UC-NRLF 


MARY  ANERLEY 


UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA 


FROM    THE    LIBRARY    OF 

PROFESSOR  FELICIEN  VICTOR  FACET 

BY  BEQUEST  OF   MADAME   FACET 
NO. 


MARY     ANERLEY 


BY  R.  D.  BLACKMORB 

AUTHOR  OF   "ALICE  LORRAINE"   " LORN A  DOONE  "  ETC. 


G)  %£tvoi,  TiveS  hre  ;  iroQev  TrlielQ'  vypct 

fj  TL  Kara  Trprj^tv,  fj  juaifjidiuS  a^d^aQe, 

old  re  JirjlcjTripeS  virelp  a/la,  rot  r'  aKouvraiS 

i/;^a5  TrapOejuevoi,  nanov  dModairolai  tytpovreS  ; 

Od.  iii  71 


NEW  YORK 
HARPER  &  BROTHERS,   FRANKLIN  SQUARE 

1880 


K.  D.  BLACKMORE'S  NOYELS. 


ALICE  LORRAINE.     8vo,  Paper,  50  cents. 

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/M3 


TO 
MY  OLD   AND  VALUED   FRIEND 

AKTHUE    JOSEPH  MT7NBT,   M.A.,  F.S.A., 

OF  LINCOLN'S  INN,  BARRISTER  AT  LAW,  AND 
OF  CLINTON  HOLME,  NEAR  YORK, 

THIS  BOOK,  OWING  MITCH  TO  HIS  KIND  AID,  IS 

CBfratefulig  Detricatett. 


134778 


MARY    ANERLEY. 


CHAPTER   I. 

HEADSTRONG  AND  HEADLONG. 

FAR  from  any  house  or  hut,  in  the  depth  of  dreary 
moorland,  a  road,  unfenced  and  almost  unformed,  descends 
to  a  rapid  river.  The  crossing  is  called  the  4  '  Seven  Corpse 
Ford,"  because  a  large  party  of  farmers,  riding  homeward 
from  Middle  ton,  banded  together  and  perhaps  well-primed 
through  fear  of  a  famous  highwayman,  came  down  to  this 
place  on  a  foggy  evening,  after  heavy  rainfall.  One  of  the 
company  set  before  them  what  the  power  of  the  water  was, 
but  they  laughed  at  him  and  spurred  into  it,  and  one  alone 
spurred  out  of  it.  Whether  taken  with  fright,  or  with  too 
much  courage,  they  laid  hold  of  one  another,  and  seven  out 
of  eight  of  them,  all  large  farmers,  and  thoroughly  under- 
standing land,  came  never  upon  it  alive  again  ;  and  their 
bodies,  being  found  upon  the  ridge  that  cast  them  up,  gave 
a  dismal  name  to  a  place  that  never  was  merry  in  the  best 
of  weather. 

However,  worse  things  than  this  had  happened  ;  and  the 
country  is  not  chary  of  its  living,  though  apt  to  be  scared 
of  its  dead  ;  and  so  the  ford  came  into  use  again,  with  a 
little  attempt  at  improvement.  For  those  farmers  being 
beyond  recall,  and  their  families  hard  to  provide  for, 
Richard  Yordas  of  Scargate  Hall,  the  chief  owner  of  the 
neighborhood,  set  a  long  heavy  stone  up  on  either  brink, 
and  stretched  a  strong  chain  between  them  ;  not  only 
to  mark  out  the  course  of  the  shallow,  whose  shelf  is 


6  MAEY   AKERLEY. 

askew  to  the  channel,  but  also  that  any  one  being  washed 
away  might  fetch  up,  and  feel  how  to  save  himself,  For 
the  Tees  is  a  violent  water  sometimes,  and  the  safest  way 
to  cross  it  is  to  go  on  till  you  come  to  a  good  stone  bridge. 

Now  forty  years  after  that  sad  destruction  of  brave  but 
not  well-guided  men,  and  thirty  years  after  the  chain  was 
fixed  that  their  sons  might  not  go  after  them,  another  thing 
happened  at  u  Seven  Corpse  Ford,"  worse  than  the  drown- 
ing of  the  farmers.  Or,  at  any  rate,  it  made  more  stir 
(which  is  of  wider  spread  than  sorrow)  because  of  the  emi- 
nence of  the  man,  and  the  length  and  width  of  his  property. 
Neither  could  any  one  at  first  believe  in  so  quiet  an  end  to 
so  turbulent  a  course.  Nevertheless  it  came  to  pass,  as 
lightly  as  if  he  were  a  reed  or  a  bubble  of  the  river  that 
belonged  to  him. 

It  was  upon  a  gentle  evening,  a  few  days  after  Michaelmas 
of  17*77.  No  flood  was  in  the  river  then,  and  no  fog  on  the 
moorland,  only  the  usual  course  of  time,  keeping  the  silent 
company  of  stars.  The  young  moon  was  down,  and  the 
hover  of  the  sky  (in  doubt  of  various  lights)  was  gone,  and 
the  equal  spread  of  obscurity  soothed  the  eyes  of  any  rea- 
sonable man. 

But  the  man  who  rode  down  to  the  river  that  night  had 
little  love  of  reason.  Headstrong  chief  of  a  headlong  race, 
no  will  must  depart  a  hair's-breadth  from  his  ;  and  fifty 
years  of  arrogant  port  had  stiffened  a  neck  too  stiff  at  birth. 
Even  now  in  the  dim  light  his  large  square  form  stood  out 
against  the  sky,  like  a  cromlech,  and  his  heavy  arms  swung 
like  gnarled  boughs  of  oak,  for  a  storm  of  wrath  was  mov- 
ing him.  In  his  youth  he  had  rebelled  against  his  father  ; 
and  now  his  own  son  was  a  rebel  to  him. 

"  Good,  my  boy,  good  !"  he  said  within  his  grizzled 
beard,  while  his  eyes  shone  with  fire,  like  the  flints  beneath 
his  horse  ;  4t  you  have  had  your  own  wray,  have  you,  then  ? 
But  never  shall  you  step  upon  an  acre  of  your  own,  and 
your  timber  shall  be  the  gallows.  Done,  my  boy,  once  and 
forever. ' ' 

Philip,  the  squire,  the  son  of  "Richard,  and  father  of 
Duncan  Yordas,  with  fierce  satisfaction  struck  the  bosom  of 
his  heavy  Bradford  riding-coat,  and  the  crackle  of  parch- 


HEADSTRONG   AND   HEADLONG.  7 

ment  replied  to  the  blow,  while  with  the  other  hand  lie 
drew  rein  on  the  brink  of  Tees  sliding  rapidly. 

The  water  was  dark  with  the  twinkle  of  stars,  and  wide 
with  the  vapor  of  the  valley  ;  but  Philip  Yordas,  in  the  rage 
of  triumph,  laughed  and  spurred  his  reflecting  horse. 

44  Fool  !"  he  cried  without  an  oath — no  Yordas  ever  used 
an  oath,  except  in  playful  moments — "  fool  !  what  fear 
you  ?  There  hangs  my  respected  father's  chain.  Ah,  he 
was  something  like  a  man  !  Had  I  ever  dared  to  flout  him 
so,  he  would  have  hanged  me  with  it/' 

Wild  with  his  wrong,  he  struck  the  rowel  deep  into  the 
flank  of  his  wading  horse,  and  in  scorn  of  the  depth  drove 
him  up  the  river.  The  shoulders  of  the  swimming  horse 
broke  the  swirling  water,  as  he  panted  and  snorted  against 
it  ;  and  if  Philip  Yordas  had  drawn  back  at  once,  he  might 
even  now  have  crossed  safely.  But  the  fury  of  his  blood 
was  up,  the  stronger  the  torrent  the  fiercer  his  will,  and  the 
fight  between  passion  and  power  went  on.  The  poor  horse 
was  fain  to  swerve  back  at  last  ;  but  he  struck  him  on  the 
head  with  a  carbine,  and  shouted  to  the  torrent  : 

4 '  Drown  me,  if  you  can.  My  father  used  to  say  that  I 
was  never  born  to  drown.  My  own  water  drown  me  ! 
That  would  be  a  little  too  much  insolence. ' ' 

44  Too  much  insolence"  were  his  last  words.  The  strength 
of  the  horse  was  exhausted.  The  beat  of  his  legs  grew 
short  and  faint,  the  white  of  his  eyes  rolled  piteously,  and 
the  gurgle  of  his  breath  subsided.  His  heavy  head  dropped 
under  water,  and  his  sodden  crest  rolled  over,  like  seuw.-rd 
where  a  wave  breaks.  The  stream  had  him  all  at  its  mercy, 
and  showed  no  more  than  his  savage  master  had,  but  swept 
him  a  wallowing  lump  away,  and  over  the  reef  of  the  cross- 
ing. With  both  feet  locked  in  the  twisted  stirrups,  and 
right  arm  broken  at  the  elbow,  the  rider  was  swung  (like 
the  mast  of  a  wreck)  and  flung  with  his  head  upon  his 
father's  chain.  There  he  was  held  by  his  great  square  chin 
— for  the  jar  of  his  backbone  stunned  him — and  the  weight 
of  the  swept-away  horse  broke  the  neck  which  never  hud 
known  how  to  bend.  In  the  morning  a  peasant  found  him 
there,  not  drowned  but  hanged,  with  eyes  wide  open,  ft  sway- 
ing corpse  upon  a  creaking  chain.  So  his  father  (though 


8  MARY   ANERLEY. 

long  in  the  grave)  was  his  death,  as  he  often  had  promised 
to  be  to  him  ;  while  he  (with  the  habit  of  his  race) 
clutched  fast,  with  dead  hand  on  dead  bosom,  the  instru- 
ment securing  the  starvation  of  his  son. 

Of  the  Yordas  family  truly  was  it  said,  that  the  will  of 
God  was  nothing  to  their  will — as  long  as  the  latter  lasted 
— and  that  every  man  of  them  scorned  all  Testament,  old 
or  new,  except  his  own. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SCARGATE     HALL. 

NEARLY  twenty -four  years  had  passed  since  Philip  Yor- 
das was  carried  to  his  last  (as  well  as  his  first)  repose,  and 
Scargate  Hall  had  enjoyed  some  rest  from  the  turbulence  of 
owners.  For  as  soon  as  Duncan  (Philip's  son,  whose  mar- 
riage had  maddened  his  father)  was  clearly  apprised  by 
the  late  squire's  lawyer  of  his  disinheritance,  he  collected 
his  own  little  money  and  his  wife's,  and  set  sail  for  India. 
His  mother,  a  Scotch  woman  of  good  birth,  but  evil  for- 
tunes, had  left  him  something  ;  and  his  bride  (the  daughter 
of  his  father's  greatest  foe)  was  not  altogether  empty-handed. 
His  sisters  were  forbidden  by  the  will  to  help  him  with  a 
single  penny  ;  and  Philippa,  the  elder,  declaring  and  believ- 
ing that  Duncan  had  killed  her  father,  strictly  obeyed  the 
injunction.  But  Eliza,  being  of  a  softer  kind,  and  herself 
then  in  love  with  Captain  Carnaby,  would  gladly  have  aided 
her  only  brother,  but  for  his  stern  refusal.  In  such  a  case, 
a  more  gentle  nature  than  ever  endowed  a  Yordas  might 
have  grown  hardened  and  bitter  ;  and  Duncan,  being  of 
true  Yordas  fibre  (thickened  and  toughened  with  slower 
Scotch  sap)  was  not  of  the  sort  to  be  ousted  lightly,  and 
grow  at  the  feet  of  his  supplanters. 

Therefore  he  cast  himself  on  the  winds,  in  search  of  fairer 
soil,  and  was  not  heard  of  in  his  native  land  ;  and  Scargate 
Hall  and  estates  were  held  by  the  sisters  in  joint-tenancy, 
with  remainder  to  the  first  son  born  of  whichever  it  might  be 
of  them.  And  this  was  so  worded  through  the  hurry  of 


SCARGATE   HALL.  0 

their  father  to  get  some  one  established  in  the  place  of  his 
own  son. 

But  from  paltry  passions  turn  away  a  little  while  to  the 
things  which  excite,  but  are  not  excited  by  them. 

Scargate  Hall  stands,  high  and  old,  in  the  wildest  and 
most  rugged  part  of  the  wild  and  rough  North  Riding. 
Many  are  the  tales  about  it,  in  the  few  and  humble  cots, 
scattered  in  the  modest  distance,  mainly  to  look  up  at  it. 
In  spring  and  summer,  of  the  years  that  have  any,  the 
height  and  the  air  are  not  only  firie,  but  even  fair  and  pleas- 
ant. So  do  the  shadows  and  the  sunshine  wander,  elbow- 
ing into  one  another  on  the  moor,  and  so  does  the  glance 
of  smiling  foliage  soothe  the  austerity  of  crag  and  scaur. 
At  such  time,  also,  the  restless  torrent  (whose  fury  has 
driven  content  away  through  many  a  short  day  and  long 
night)  is  not  in  such  desperate  hurry  to  bury  its  troubles 
in  the  breast  of  Tees,  but  spreads  them  in  language  that 
sparkles  to  the  sun,  or  even  makes  leisure  to  turn  into  cor- 
ners of  deep  brown  study  about  the  people  on  its  banks — 
especially  perhaps  the  miller. 

But  never  had  this  impetuous  water  more  reason  to  stop 
and  reflect  upon  people  of  greater  importance,  who  called  it 
their  own,  than  now  when  it  was  at  the  lowest  of  itself,  in 
August  of  the  year  1801. 

From  time  beyond  date  the  race  of  Yordas  had  owned 
and  inhabited  this  old  place.  From  them  the  river,  and 
the  river's  valley,  and  the  mountain  of  its  birth,  took  name, 
or  else  perhaps  gave  name  to  them  ;  for  the  history  of  the 
giant  Yordas  still  remains  to  be  written,  and  the  materials 
are  scanty.  His  present  descendants  did  not  care  an  old 
song  for  his  memory,  even  if  he  ever  had  existence  to  pro- 
duce it.  Piety  (whether  in  the  Latin  sense  or  English) 
never  had  marked  them  for  her  own  ;  their  days  were  long 
in  the  land,  through  a  long  inactivity  of  the  Decalogue. 

And  yet  in  some  manner  this  lawless  race  had  boon  as  a 
law  to  itself  throughout.  From  age  to  age  caino  certain 
gifts  and  certain  ways  of  management,  which  saved  the 
family  life  from  falling  out  of  rank  and  land  and  lot.  Fsoin 
deadly  feuds,  exhausting  suits,  and  ruinous  profusion,  when 
all  appeared  lost,  there  had  always  arisen  a  man  of  direct 


10  MARY    ANERLEY. 

lineal  stock,  to  retrieve  the  estates  and  reprieve  the  name.* 
And  what  is  still  more  conducive  to  the  longevity  of  fami- 
lies,  no  member  had  appeared  as  yet  of  a  power  too  large 
and  an  aim  too  lofty,  whose  eminence  must  be  cut  short 
with  axe,  outlawry,  and  attainder.  Therefore  there  ever 
had  been  a  Yordas,  good  or  bad  (and  by  his  own  showing 
more  often  of  the  latter  kind),  to  stand  before  heaven,  and 
hold  the  land,  and  harass  them  that  dwelt  thereon.  But 
now  at  last  the  world  seemed  to  be  threatened  with  the  ex- 
tinction of  a  fine  old  name. 

When  Squire  Philip  died  in  the  river,  as  above  recorded, 
his  death,  from  one  point  of  view,  was  dry,  since  nobody 
shed  a  tear  for  him,  unless  it  was  his  child  Eliza.  Still  he 
was  missed  and  lamented  in  speech,  and  even  in  eloquent 
speeches,  having  been  a  very  strong  justice  of  the  peace,  as 
well  as  the  foremost  of  riotous  gentlemen  keeping  the  order 
of  the  county.  He  stood  above  them  in  his  firm  resolve  to 
have  his  own  way  always,  and  his  way  was  so  crooked  that 
the  difficulty  was  to  get  out  of  it  and  let  him  have  it.  And 
when  he  was  dead,  it  was  either  too  good  or  too  bad  to 
believe  in  ;  and  even  after  he  was  buried  it  was  held  that 
this  might  be  only  another  of  his  tricks. 

But  after  his  ghost  had  been  seen  repeatedly,  sitting  on 
the  chain  and  swearing,  it  began  to  be  known  that  he  was 
gone  indeed,  and  the  relief  afforded  by  his  absence 
endeared  him  to  sad  memory.  Moreover,  his  good  succes- 
sors enhanced  the  relish  of  scandal  about  him,  by  seeming 
themselves  to  be  always  so  dry,  distant,  and  unimpeachable. 
Especially  so  did  "  My  Lady  Philippa, "  as  the  elder 
daughter  was  called  by  all  the  tenants  and  dependants, 
though  the  family  now  held  no  title  of  honor. 

Mistress  Yordas,  as  she  was  more  correctly  styled  by 
usage  of  the  period,  was  a  maiden  lady  of  fine  presence, 
uncumbered  as  yet  by  weight  of  years,  and  only  dignified 
thereby.  Stately,  and  straight,  and  substantial  of  figure, 
firm  but  not  coarse  of  feature,  she  had  reached  her  forty- 
fifth  year  without  an  ailment  or  a  wrinkle.  Her  eyes  were 
steadfast,  clear,  and  bright,  well  able  to  second  her  dis- 
tinct calm  voice,  and  handsome  still,  though  their  deep  blue 
had  waned  into  a  quiet,  impenetrable  gray  ;  while  her  broad 


SCARGATE   HALL.  11 

clear  forehead,  straight  nose,  and  red  lips  might  well  bn 
considered  as  comely  as  ever,  at  least  by  those  who  !•• 
her.     Of  these,  however,  there  were  not  many  ;  and  she 
was  content  to  have  it  so. 

Mrs.  Carnaby,  the  younger  sister,  would  not  have  been 
content  to  have  it  so.  Though  not  of  the  weak  lot  which 
is  enfeoffed  to  popularity,  she  liked  to  be  regarded  kindly, 
and  would  rather  win  a  smile  than  exact  a  courtesy.  Con- 
tinually it  was  said  of  her  that  she  was  no  genuine 
Yordas,,  though  really  she  had  all  the  pride  and  all  the 
stubbornness  of  that  race,  enlarged  perhaps,  but  little 
weakened,  by  severe  afflictions.  This  lady  had  lost  a  be- 
loved husband,  Colonel  Carnaby,  killed  in  battle  ;  and  after 
that  four  children  of  the  five  she  had  been  so  proud  of. 
And  the  waters  of  affliction  had  not  turned  to  bitterness  in 
her  soul. 

Concerning  the  outward  part — which  matters  more  than 
the  inward,  at  first  hand — Mrs.  Carnaby  had  no  reason  to 
complain  of  fortune.  She  had  started  well  as  a  very  fine 
baby,  and  grown  up  well  into  a  lovely  maiden,  passing 
through  wedlock  into  a  sightly  matron,  gentle,  fair,  and 
showing  reason.  For  generations  it  had  come  to  pass  that 
those  of  the  Yordas  race  who  deserved  to  be  cut  off  for 
their  doings  out  of  doors  were  followed  by  ladies  of 
decorum,  self-restraint,  and  regard  for  their  neighbor's 
landmark.  And  so  it  was  now  with  these  two  ladies,  the 
handsome  Philippa  and  the,  fair  Eliza  leading  a  peaceful 
and  reputable  life,  and  carefully  studying  their  rent-roll. 

It  was  not,  however,  in  the  fitness  of  things  that  quiet 
should  reign  at  Scargate  Hall  for  a  quarter  of  a  r-cntury  ; 
and  one  strong  element  of  disturbance  grew  already  mani- 
fest. Tinder  the  will  of  Squire  Philip  the  heir-apparent 
was  the  one  surviving  child  of  Mrs.  Carnaby. 

If  ever  a  mortal  life  was  saved  by  dint  of  sleepless  care, 
warm  coddling,  and  perpetual  doctoring,  it  was  the  precious 
life  of  Master  Lancelot  Yordas  Carnaby.     In  him  all  tho 
mischief  of  his  race  revived,  without  the  strong  BubfltinOQ 
to  carry  it  off.    Though  his  parents  were  healthy  and  *i 
ous,  he  was  of  weakly  constitution,  which  would  not 
'been  half  so  dangerous  to  him,  if  his  mind   also  had 


12  MARY   AKERLEY. 

weakly.  But  his  mind  (or  at  any  rate  that  rudiment 
thereof  which  appears  in  the  shape  of  self-will  even  before 
the  teeth  appear)  was  a  piece  of  muscular  contortion,  tough 
as  oak  and  hard  as  iron.  u  Pet"  was  his  name  with  his 
mother  and  his  aunt  ;  and  his  enemies  (being  the  rest  of 
mankind)  said  that  pet  was  his  name  and  his  nature. 

For  this  dear  child  could  brook  no  denial,  no  slow  sub- 
mission to  his  wishes  ;  whatever  he  wanted  must  come  in  a 
moment,  punctual  as  an  echo.  In  him  reappeared  not  the 
stubbornness  only,  but  also  the  keen  ingenuity  of  Yordas 
in  finding  out  the  very  thing  that  never  should  be  done,  and 
then  the  unerring  perception  of  the  way  in  which  it  could 
be  done  most  noxiously.  Yet  any  one  looking  at  his  eyes 
would  think  how  tender  and  bright  must  his  nature  be  ! 
"  He  favoreth  his  fore-elders  ;  how  can  he  help  it  ?"  kind 
people  exclaimed,  when  they  knew  him.  And  the  servants 
of  the  house  excused  themselves  when  condemned  for  put- 
ting up  with  him,  "  Naa,  ye  dawn'tknawt'  yoong  maaster. 
He's  that  fratchy  and  auld-farrand  he  mun  gau'  's  own 
gaat,  if  ye  wean't  chawk  him." 

Being  too  valuable  to  be  choked,  he  got  his  own  way 
always. 


CHAPTER    III. 

A    DISAPPOINTING    APPOINTMENT. 

FOR  the  sake  of  Pet  Carnaby  and  of  themselves,  the 
ladies  of  the  'house  were  disquieted  now,  in  the  first  summer 
weather  of  a  changeful  year,  the  year  of  our  Lord  1801. 
And  their  trouble  arose  as  follows  : 

There  had  long  been  a  question  between  the  sisters  and 
Sir  Walter  Carnaby,  brother  of  the  late  colonel,  about  an 
exchange  of  outlying  land,  which  would  have  to  be  ratified 
by  "  Pet"  hereafter.  Terms  being  settled  and  agreement 
signed,  the  lawyers  fell  to  at  the  linked  sweetness  of  deduc- 
ing title.  The  abstract  of  the  Yordas  title  was  nearly  as 
big  as  the  parish  Bible,  so  in  and  out  had  their  dealings 
been,  and  so  intricate  their  pugnacity. 


A    DISAPPOINTING    API-OINTMENT. 

Among  the  many  other  of  the  Yordas  freaks  was  a  fatu- 
ous and  generally  fatal  one.  For  the  slightest  miscarr 
they  discharged  their  lawyer,  and  leaped  into  the  office  of  a 
new  one  !  Has  any  man  moved  in  the  affairs  of  men,  with 
a  grain  of  common-sense,  or  half  a  pennyweight  of  experi- 
ence, without  being  taught  that  an  old  tenter-hook  sits 
easier  to  him  than  a  new  one  ?  And  not  only  that,  but  in 
shifting  his  quarters  he  may  leave  some  truly  fundamental 
thing  behind. 

Old  Mr.  Jellicorse,  of  Middleton  in  Teesdale,  had  won 
golden  opinions  everywhere.  He  was  an  uncommonly  hon- 
est lawyer,  highly  incapable  of  almost  any  trick,  and  lofty 
in  his  view  of  things,  when  his  side  of  them  was  the  legal 
one.  He  had  a  large  collection  of  those  interesting  boxes 
which  are  to  a  lawyer  and  his  family  better  than  caskets  of 
silver  and  gold  ;  and  especially  were  his  shelves  furnished 
with  what  might  be  called  the  library  of  the  Scargate  title- 
deeds.  He  had  been  proud  to  take  charge  of  these  nearly 
thirty  years  ago,  and  had  married  on  the  strength  of  them, 
though  warned  by  the  rival  from  whom  they  were  wrested 
that  he  must  not  hope  to  keep  them  long.  However, 
through  the  peaceful  incumbency  of  ladies,  they  remained 
in  his  office  all  those  years. 

This  was  the  gentleman  who  had  drawn  and  legally  sped 
to  its  purport  the  will  of  the  lamented  Squire  Philip  ;  who 
refused  very  clearly  to  leave  it,  and  took  horse  to  flourish  it 
at  his  rebellious  son.  Mr.  Jellicorse  had  done  the  utmost, 
as  behoved  him,  against  that  rancorous  testament  ;  but 
meeting  with  silence  more  savage  than  words,  and  a  bow  t«> 
depart,  he  had  yielded  ;  and  the  squire  stamped  about  the 
room  until  his  job  was  finished. 

A  fact  accomplished,  whether  good  or  bad,  improves  in 
character  with  every  revolution  of  this  little  world  around 
the  sun,  that  heavenly  example  of  subservience.  And 
now  Mr.  Jellicorse  was  well  convinced,  as  nothing  had 
occurred  to  disturb  that  will,  and  the  life  of  the  testator  had 
been  sacrificed  to  it,  and  the  devisees  under  it  were  his  own 
good  clients,  and  some  of  his  finest  turns  of  words  were  in 
it,  and  the  preparation,  execution,  and  attestation,  in  an 
hour  and  ten  minutes  of  the  office  clock,  had  never  been 


14  JMAKY   AKEKLEY. 

equalled  in  Yorkshire  before,  and  perhaps  never  honestly  in 
London — taking  all  these  things  into  conscious  or  uncon- 
scious balance,  Mr.  Jellicorse  grew  into  the  clear  conviction 
that  "  righteous  and  wise"  were  the  words  to  be  used 
whenever  this  will  was  spoken  of. 

With  pleasant  remembrance  of  the  starveling  fees  where- 
with he  used  to  charge  the  public,  ere  ever  his  golden 
spurs  were  won,  the  prosperous  lawyer  now  began  to  run 
his  eye  through  a  duplicate  of  an  abstract  furnished  upon 
some  little  sale  about  forty  years  before.  This  would  form 
the  basis  of  the  abstract  now  to  be  furnished  to  Sir  Walter 
Carnaby,  with  little  to  be  added  but  the  will  of  Philip 
Yordas,  and  statement  of  facts  to  be  verified.  Mr.  Jelli- 
corse was  fat,  but  very  active  still  ;  he  liked  good  living, 
but  he  liked  to  earn  it,  and  could  not  sit  down  to  his  dinner 
without  feeling  that  he  had  helped  the  Lord  to  provide 
these  mercies.  He  carried  a  pencil  on  his  chain,  and  liked 
to  use  it  ere  ever  he  began  with  knife  and  fork.  For  the 
young  men  in  the  office,  as  he  always  said,  knew  nothing. 

The  day  was  very  bright  and  clear,  and  the  sun  shone 
through  soft  lilac  leaves  on  more  important  folios,  while 
Mr.  Jellicorse,  with  happy  sniffs — for  his  dinner  was  roast- 
ing in  the  distance — drew  a  single  line  here,  or  a  double 
line  there,  or  a  gable  on  the  margin  of  the  paper,  to  show 
his  head  clerk  what  to  cite,  and  in  what  letters,  and  what 
to  omit,  in  the  abstract  to  be  rendered.  For  the  good 
solicitor  had  spent  some  time  in  the  chambers  of  a  famous 
conveyancer  in  London,  and  prided  himself  upon  deducing 
title,  directly,  exhaustively,  and  yet  tersely,  in  one  word, 
scientifically,  and  not  as  the  mere  quill-driver.  The  title 
to  the  hereditaments,  now  to  be  given  in  exchange,  went 
back  for  many  generations  ;  but  as  the  deeds  were  not  to 
pass,  Mr.  Jellicorse,  like  an  honest  man,  drew  a  line  across, 
and  made  a  star  at  one  quite  old  enough  to  begin  with,  in 
which  the  little  moorland  farm  in  treaty  now  was  specified. 
With  hum  and  ha  of  satisfaction  he  came  down  the  records, 
as  far  as  the  settlement  made  upon  the  marriage  of  Richard 
Yordas  of  Scargate  Hall,  Esquire,  and  Eleanor,  the  daugh- 
ter of  gir  Fursan  de  Roos.  This  document  created  no 
entail,  for  strict  settlements  had  never  been  the  manner  of 


A   DISAPPOINTING    APPOINTMENT.  15 

the  race  ;  but  tlic  property  assured  in  trust,  to  satisfy  the 
jointure,  was  then  declare'd  subject  to  joint  and  surviving 
powers  of  appointment  limited  to  the  issue  of  the  marri 
with  remainder  to  the  uses  of  the  will  of  the  aforesaid 
Ilichard  Yordas,  or,  failing  such  will,  to  his  right  heirs  for- 
ever. 

All  this  was  usual  enough,  and  Mr.  Jellicorse  heeded  it 
little,  having  never  heard  of  any  appointment,  and  knowing 
that  Richard,  the  grandfather  of  his  clients,  had  die  : 
became  a  true  Yordas,  in  a  fit  of  fury  with  a  poor  tenant, 
intestate,  as  well  as  unrepentant.  The  lawyer,  being  a 
slightly  pious  man,  afforded  a  little  sigh  to  this  remem- 
brance, and  lifted  his  finger  to  turn  the  leaf,  but  the  leaf 
stuck  a  moment,  and  the  paper  being  raised  at  the  very 
best  angle  to  the  sun,  he  saw,  or  seemed  to  see,  a  faint  red 
line,  just  over  against  that  appointment  clause.  And  then 
the  yellow  margin  showed  some  faint  red  marks. 

"  Well,  I  never — "  Mr.  Jellicorse  exclaimed,  "  certainly 
never  saw  these  marks  before.  Diana,  where  are  iny 
glasses?'' 

Mrs.  Jellicorse  had  been  to  see  the  potatoes  on  (for  the 
new  cook  simply  made  "  kettlefuls  of  fish"  of  everything 
put  upon  the  fire),  and  now  at  her  husband's  call  she  went 
to  her  work-box  for  his  spectacles,  which  he  was  not 
allowed  to  wear  except  on  Sundays,  for  fear  of  injuring  his 
eyesight.  Equipped  with  these,  and  drawing  nearer  to 
the  window,  the  lawyer  gradually  made  out  this — first  a 
broad  faint  line  of  red,  as  if  some  attorney,  now  a  ghost, 
had  cut  his  finger,  and  over  against  that  in  small  round  hand 
the  letters  "  v.  b.  c."  Mr.  Jellicorse  could  swear  that  they 
were  "  v.  b.  c." 

"  Don't   ask   me   to   eat   any    dinner   to-day,"    ho 
claimed,  when  his  wife  came  to  fetch  him.      "  Diana,  I  am 
occupied  ;  go  and  eat  it  up  without  me." 

"  Nonsense,  James,"  she  answered  calmly  ;  "  you  in- 
get  any  clever  thoughts  by  starving. ' ' 

Moved  by  this  reasoning,  he  submitted,  fed  his  wife  and 
children,  and  own  good  self,  and  then  brought  up  a  bottle 
of  old  Spanish  wine,  to  strengthen  the  founts  of  discovery. 
Whose  writing  was  that  upon  the  broad  marge  of  verbo- 


16  MARY    ANERLEY. 

Why  had  it  never  been  observed  before  ?  Above  all,  what 
was  meant  by  44  v.  b.  c."  ? 

Unaided,  he  might  have  gone  on  forever,  to  the  bottom 
of  a  butt  of  Xeres  wine  ;  but,  finding  the  second  glass 
better  than  the  first,  he  called  to  Mrs.  Jellicorse,  who  was  in 
the  garden  gathering  striped  roses,  to  come  and  have  a  sip 
with  him,  and  taste  the  yellow  cherries.  And  when  she 
came  promptly  with  the  flowers  in  her  hand,  and  their 
youngest  little  daughter  making  sly  eyes  at  the  fruit,  both- 
ered as  he  was,  he  could  not  help  smiling  and  saying,  "  O 
Diana!  what  is  l  v.  b.  c.  '  ?" 

44  Very  black  currants,  papa  !"  cried  Emily,  dancing  a 
long  bunch  in  the  air. 

44  Hush,  dear  child,  you  are  getting  too  forward,"  said 
her  mother,  though  proud  of  her  quickness.  44  James,  how 
should  I  know  what  4  v.  b.  c. '  is  ?  But  I  wish  most  heartily 
that  you  would  rid  me  of  my  old  enemy,  box  C.  I  want  to 
put  a  hanging-press  in  that  corner,  instead  of  which  you 
turn  the  very  passages  into  office." 

44  Box  C  ?     I  remember  no  box  C." 

"  You  may  not  have  noticed  the  letter  C  upon  it,  but 
the  box  you  must  know  as  well  as  I  do.  It  belongs  to 
those  proud  Yordas  people,  who  hold  their  heads  so  high, 
forsooth,  as  if  nobody  but  themselves  belonged  to  a  good 
old  county  family  !  That  makes  me  hate  the  box  the 
more." 

44  I  will  take  it  out  of  your  way  at  once.  I  may  want 
it.  It  should  be  with  the  others.  I  know  it  as  well  as  I 
know  rny  snuffbox.  It  was  Aberthaw  who  put  it  in  that 
corner  ;  but  I  had  forgotten  that  it  was  lettered.  The 
others  are  all  numbered." 

Of  course  Mr.  Jellicorse  was  not  weak  enough  to  make 
the  partner  of  his  bosom  the  partner  of  his  business  ;  and 
much  as  she  longed  to  know  why  he  had  put  an  unusual 
question  to  her,  she  trusted  to  the  future  for  discovery  of 
that  point.  She  left  him,  and  he  with  no  undue  haste — 
for  the  business,  after  all,  was  not  his  own — began  to  fol- 
low out  his  train  of  thought,  in  manner  much  as  follows  : 

44  This  is  that  old  Duncombe's  writing — 4  Dunderheaded 
Duncombe/  as  he  used  to  be  called  in  his  lifetime,  but 


A    DISAPPOINTING   APPOINTMENT.  17 

1  Long-headed  Duncombe  '  afterward.  None  but  his  wife 
knew  whether  he  was  a  wise  man  or  a  wiseacre.  Perhaps 
cither,  according  to  the  treatment  he  received.  Richard 
Yordas  treated  him  badly  ;  that  may  have  made  him  wiser. 
V.  b.  c.  means  '  vide  box  C,'  unless  I  am  greatly  mistaken. 
He  wrote  those  letters  as  plainly  arid  clearly  as  he  could 
against  this  power  of  appointment  as  recited  here.  But  after- 
ward, with  knife  and  pounce,  he  scraped  them  out,  as  now 
becomes  plain  with  this  magnifying-glass  ;  probably  he  did 
so  when  all  these  archives,  as  he  used  to  call  them,  were 
rudely  ordered  over  to  my  predecessor.  A  nice  bit  of  re- 
venge, if  my  suspicions  are  correct  ;  and  a  pretty  confusion 
will  follow  it." 

The  lawyer's  suspicions  proved  too  correct.  He  took 
that  box  to  his  private  room,  and  with  some  trouble  un- 
locked it.  A  damp  and  musty  smell  came  forth,  as  when 
a  man  delves  a  potato-bury  ;  and  then  appeared  layers  of 
parchment  yellow  and  brown,  in  and  out  with  one  another, 
according  to  the  curing  of  the  sheepskin,  perhaps,  or  the 
age  of  the  sheep  when  he  began  to  die  ;  skins  much  older 
than  any  man's  who  handled  them,  and  drier  than  the 
brains  of  any  lawyer. 

"  Anno  Jacobi  tertio,  and  Quadragesimo  Elisabeths  ! 
How  nice  it  sounds  !"  Mr.  Jellicorse  exclaimed  ;  "  they 
ought  all  to  go  in,  and  be  charged  for.  People  to  be  satis- 
fied with  sixty  years'  title  !  Why,  bless  the  Lord,  I  am 
sixty-eight  myself,  and  could  buy  and  sell  the  grammar- 
school  at  eight  years  old.  It  is  no  security,  no  security  at 
all.  What  "did  the  learned  Bacupiston  say  ?  *  If  a  rogue 
only  lives  to  be  a  hundred  and  eleven,  he  may  have  been 
for  ninety-years  disseised,  and  nobody  alive  to  know 
it!'" 

Older  and  older  grew  the  documents  as  the  lawyer's 
hand  travelled  downward  ;  any  flaw  or  failure  must  have 
been  healed  by  lapse  of  time  long  and  long  ago  ;  dust  ami 
grime  and  -mildew  thickened,  ink  became  paler,  and  con- 
tractions more  contorted  ;  it  was  rather  an  antiquary's  busi- 
ness now  than  a  lawyer's  to  decipher  them. 

"  What  a  fool  I  am  !"  the  solicitor  thought.  "  My  cuffs 
will  never  wash  white  again,  and  all  1  have  fouinl 

2 


18  MARY   ANERLEY. 

mare's  nest.  However,  I'll  go  to  the  bottom  now.  There 
may  be  a  gold  seal,  they  used  to  put  them  in  with  the  deeds 
three  hundred  years  ago.  A  charter  of  Edward  the  Fourth, 
I  declare  !  Ah,  the  Yordases  were  Yorkists — halloa,  what 
is  here  ?  By  the  Touchstone  of  Shepherd,  I  was  right  after 
all  !  Well  done,  long-headed  Duncombe  !" 

From  the  very  bottom  of  the  box  he  took  a  parchment 
comparatively  fresh  and  new,  indorsed  "  Appointment  by 
Richard  Yordas,  Esquire,  and  Eleanor  his  wife,  of  lands 
and  heredits  at  Scargate  and  elsewhere  in  the  county  of 
York,  dated  November  loth,  A.D.  1751."  Having  glanced 
at  the  signatures  and  seals,  Mr.  Jellicorse  spread  the  docu- 
ment, which  was  of  moderate  compass,  and  soon  con- 
vinced himself  that  his  work  of  the  morning  had  been 
wholly  thrown  away.  No  title  could  be  shown  to  White- 
stone  Farm,  nor  even  to  Scargate  Hall  itself,  on  the  part  of 
the  present  owners. 

The  appointment  was  by  deed-poll,  and  strictly  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  powers  of  the  settlement.  Duly  executed 
and  attested,  clearly  though  clumsily  expressed,  and  beyond 
all  question  genuine,  it  simply  nullified  (as  concerned  the 
better  half  of  the  property)  the  will  which  had  cost  Philip 
Yordas  his  life.  For  under  this  limitation  Philip  held  a 
mere  life  interest,  his  father  and  mother  giving  all  men  to 
know  by  those  presents  that  they  did  thereby  from  and 
after  the  decease  of  their  said  son  Philip  grant,  limit,  and 
appoint,  etc.,  all  and  singular  the  said  lands,  etc.,  to  the 
heirs  of  his  body  lawfully  begotten,  etc.,  etc.,  in  tail  gen- 
eral, with  remainder  over,  and  final  remainder  to  the  right 
heirs  of  the  said  Richard  Yordas  forever.  From  all  which 
it  followed  that  while  Duncan  Yordas,  or  child,  or  other 
descendant  of  his  remained  in  the  land  of  the  living,  or 
even  without  that  if  he,  having  learned  it,  had  been  enabled 
to  bar  the  entail  and  then  sell  or  devise  the  lands  away,  the 
ladies  in  possession  could  show  no  title,  except  a  posses- 
sory one,  as  yet  unhallowed  by  the  lapse  of  time. 

Mr.  Jellicorse  was  a  very  pleasant-looking  man,  also  one 
who  took  a  pleasant  view  of  other  men  and  things  ;  but  he 
could  not  help  pulling  a  long  and  sad  face  as  he  thought 
of  the  puzzle  before  him.  Duncan  Yordas  had  not  been 


DISQUIETUDE.  19 

heard  of  among  his  own  hills  and  valleys  since  1778,  when 
he  embarked  for  India.  None  of  the  family  ever  had  cared 
to  write  or  read  long  letters  ;  their  correspondence  (if  any) 
was  short,  without  being  sweet  by  any  means.  It  might  be 
a  subject  for  prayer  and  hope  that  Duncan  should  be  gone 
to  a  better  world,  without  leaving  hostages  to  fortune  here  ; 
but  sad  it  is  to  say  that  neither  prayer  nor  hope  produces 
any  faith  in  the  Counsel  who  prepares  "  requisitions  upon 
title. " 

On  the  other  hand,  inquiry  as  to  Duncan's  history  since 
he  left  his  native  land  would  be  a  delicate  and  expensive 
work,  and  perhaps  even  dangerous,  if  he  should  hear  of  it, 
and  inquire  about  the  inquirers.  For  the  last  thing  to  be 
done  from  a  legal  point  of  view — though  the  first  of  all  from 
a  just  one — was  to  apprise  the  rightful  owner  of  his  unex- 
pected position.  Now  Mr.  Jellicorse  was  a  just  man  ;  but 
his  justice  was  due  to  his  clients  first. 

After  a  long  brown  study  he  reaped  his  crop  of  medita- 
tion thus:  "It  is  a  ticklish  job;  and  I  will  sleep  three 
nights  upon  it." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DISQUIETUDE. 


»  THE  ladies  of  Scargate  Hall  were  uneasy,  although  the 
weather  was  so  fine,  upon  this  clay  of  early  August,  in  the 
year  now  current.  It  was  a  remarkable  fact  that  in  spite  of 
the  distance  they  slept  asunder,  which  could  not  be  less 
than  five-and-thirty  yards,  both  had  been  visited  by  a 
dream,  which  appeared  to  be  quite  the  same  dream,  until 
examined  narrowly,  and  being  examined  grew  more  surpris- 
ing in  its  points  of  difference.  They  were  much  above  pay- 
ing any  heed  to  dreams,  though  instructed  by  the  patriarchs 
to'do  so  ;  and  they  seemed  to  be  quite  getting  over  the 
effects,  when  the  lesson  and  the  punishment  astonished 
them. 

Lately  it  had  been  established  (although  many  leading 
people  went  against  it,   and   threatened  to   prosecute   the 


20  MARY   AXEKLEY. 

man  for  trespass)  that  here  in  these  quiet  and  reputable 
places,  where  no  spy  could  be  needed,  a  man  should  come 
twice  every  week  with  letters,  and  in  the  name  of  the  king 
be  paid  for  them.  Such  things  were  required  in  towns  per- 
haps, as  corporations  and  gutters  were  ;  but  to  bring  them 
where  people  could  rnind  their  own  business,  and  charge 
them  two  groats  for  some  fool  who  knew  their  names,  was 
like  putting  a  tax  upon  their  christening.  So  it  was  the 
hope  of  many,  as  well  as  every  one's  belief,  that  the  post- 
man, being  of  Lancastrian  race,  would  very  soon  be  bogged, 
or  famished,  or  get  lost  in  a  fog,  or  swept  off  by  a  flood,  or 
go  and  break  his  own  neck  from  a  precipice. 

The  postman,  however,  was  a  wiry  fellow,  and  as  tough 
as  any  native,  and  he  rode  a  pony  even  tougher  than  him- 
self, whose  cradle  was  a  marsh,  and  whose  mother  a  moun- 
tain, his  first  breath  a  fog,  and  his  weaning-meat  wire- 
grass,  and  his  form  a  combination  of  sole-leather  and  cor- 
undum. He  wore  no  shoes  for  fear  of  not  making  sparks 
at  night,  to  show  the  road,  and  although  his  bit  had  been  a 
blacksmith's  rasp,  he  would  yield  to  it  only  when  it  suited 
him.  The  postman,  whose  name  was  George  King  (which 
confounded  him  with  King  George,  in  the  money  to  pay), 
carried  a  sword  and  blunderbuss,  and  would  use  them 
sooner  than  argue. 

Now  this  man  and  horse  had  come  slowly  along,  without 
meaning  any  mischief,  to  deliver  a  large  sealed  packet  with 
sixteen  pence  to  pay  put  upon  it,  "  to  Mistress  Philippa 
Yordas,  etc.,  her  own  hands,  and  speed,  speed,  speed  ;" 
which  they  earned  out  duly  by  stop,  stop,  stop,  whenso- 
ever they  were  hungry,  or  saw  anything  to  look  at.  None 
the  less  for  that,  though  with  certainty  much  later,  they 
arrived  in  good  trim,  by  the  middle  of  the  day,  and  ready 
for  the  comfort  which  they  both  deserved. 

As  yet  it  was  not  considered  safe  to  trust  any  tidings  of 
importance  to  the  post,  in  such  a  world  as  this  was  ;  and 
even  were  it  safe,  it  would  be  bad  manners  from  a  man  of 
business.  Therefore  Mr.  Jellicorse  had  sealed  up  little,  ex- 
cept his  respectful  consideration  and  request  to  be  allowed 
to  wait  upon  his  honored  clients,  concerning  a  matter  of 
great  moment,  upon  the  afternoon  of  Thursday  then  next 


DISQUIETUDE.  %\ 

ensuing.  And  the  post  had  gone  so  far,  to  give  good  dis- 
tance for  the  money,  that  the  Thursday  of  the  future  came 
to  be  that  very  day. 

The  present  century  opened  with  a  chilly  and  dark  year, 
following  three  bad  seasons  of  severity  and  scarcity.  And 
in  the  north-west  of  Yorkshire,  though  the  summer  was  now 
so  far  advanced,  there  had  been  very  little  sunshine.  For 
the  last  day  or  two,  the  sun  had  labored  to  sweep  up  the 
mist  and  cloud,  and  was  beginning  to  prevail  so  far  that 
the  mists  drew  their  skirts  up  and  retired  into  haze,  while 
ihe  clouds  fell  away  to  the  ring  of  the  sky,  and  there  lay 
down  to  abide  their  time.  Wherefore  it  happened  that 
"  Yordas  House'7  (as  the  ancient  building  was  in  old  time 
called)  had  a  clearer  view  than  usual  of  the  valley,  and  the 
river  that  ran  away,  and  the  road  that  tried  to  run  up  to  it. 
Now  this  was  considered  a  wonderful  road,  and  in  fair 
truth  it  was  wonderful,  withstanding  all  efforts  of  even  the 
Royal  Mail  pony  to  knock  it  to  pieces.  In  its  rapidity 
downhill  it  surpassed  altogether  the  river,  which  galloped 
along  by  the  side  of  it,  and  it  stood  out  so  boldly  with 
stones  of  no  shame,  that  even  by  moonlight  nobody  could 
lose  it,  until  it  abruptly  lost  itself.  But  it  never  did  that, 
imtil  the  house  it  came  from  was  two  miles  away,  and  no 
other  to  be  seen  ;  and  so  why  should  it  go  any  further  ? 

At  the  head  of  this  road  stood  the  old  gray  house,  facing 
toward  the  south  of  east,  to  claim  whatever  might  come  up 
the  valley,  sun,  or  storm,  or  columned  fog.  In  the  days  of 
the  past  it  had  claimed  much  more,  goods,  and  cattle,  and 
tribute  of  the  traffic  going  northward  ;  as  the  loopholed 
quadrangle  for  impounded  stock  and  the  deeply  embra- 
sured tower  showed.  At  the  back  of  the  house  rose  a 
mountain  spine,  blocking  out  the  westering  sun,  but  cut  with 
one  deep  portal  where  a  pass  ran  into  Westmoreland — the 
scaur-gate  whence  the  house  was  named  ;  and  through  this 
gate  of  mountain  often,  when  the  day  was  waning,  a  bar  <>f 
slanting  sunset  entered,  like  a  plume  of  golden  dust,  and 
hovered  on  a  broad  black  patch  of  weather-beaten  fir-t  i 
The  day  was  waning  now,  and  every  steep  ascent  looked 
steeper,  while  down  the  valley  light  and  shade  made  longer 
cast  of  shuttle,  and  the  margin  of  the  west  began  to  glow 


22  MARY   ANERLEY. 

with  a  deep  wine-color  as  the  snn  came  down — the  tinge 
of  many  mountains  and  the  distant  sea — until  the  sun  him- 
self settled  quietly  into  it,  and  there  grew  richer  and  more 
ripe  (as  old  bottled  wine  is  fed  by  the  crust)  and  bowed  his 
rubicund  farewell,  through  the  postern  of  the  scaur-gate,  to 
the  old  hall,  and  the  valley,  and  the  face  of  Mr.  Jellicorse. 

That  gentleman's  countenance  did  not,  however,  reply 
with  its  usual  brightness  to  the  mellow  salute  of  evening. 
Wearied  and  shaken  by  the  long,  rough  ride,  and  depressed 
by  the  heavy  solitude,  he  hated  and  almost  feared  the  task 
which  every  step  brought  nearer.  As  the  house  rose  higher 
and  higher  against  the  red  sky  and  grew  darker,  and  as  the 
sullen  roar  of  bloodhounds  (terrors  of  the  neighborhood) 
roused  the  slow  echoes  of  the  crags,  the  lawyer  was  almost 
fain  to  turn  his  horse's  head,  and  face  the  risks  of  wander- 
ing over  the  moor  by  night.  But  the  hoisting  of  a  flag,  the 
well-known  token — confirmed  by  large  letters  on  a  rock — 
that  strangers  might  safely  approach,  inasmuch  as  the  savage 
dogs  were  kennelled,  this  and  the  thought  of  such  an  entry 
for  his  day-book  kept  Mr.  Jellicorse  from  ignominious 
flight.  He  was  in  for  it  now,  and  must  carry  it  through. 

In  a  deep  embayed  window  of  leaded  glass  Mistress  Yor- 
das  and  her  widowed  sister  sat  for  an  hour,  without  many 
words,  watching  the  zigzag  of  shale  and  rock  which  formed 
their  chief  communication  with  the  peopled  world.  They 
did  not  care  to  improve  their  access  or  increase  their 
traffic  ;  not  through  cold  morosity  or  even  proud  indiffer- 
ence, but  because  they  had  been  so  brought  up,  and  so 
confirmed  by  circumstance.  For  the  Yordas  blood,  how- 
ever hot  and  wild  and  savage  in  the  gentlemen,  was  gen- 
erally calm  and  good,  though  stubborn,  in  the  weaker  ves- 
sels. For  the  main  part,  however,  a  family  takes  its  char- 
acter more  from  the  sword  than  the  spindle  ;  and  their 
sword-hand  had  been  as  that  of  Ishmael. 

Little  as  they  meddled  with  the  doings  of  the  world,  of 
one  thing  at  least  these  stately  madams — as  the  baffled 
squires  of  the  Riding  called  them — were  by  no  means  heed- 
less. They  dressed  themselves  according  to  their  rank,  or 
perhaps  above  it.  Many  a  nobleman's  wife  in  Yorkshire 
had  not  such  apparel  ;  and  even  of  those  so  richly  gifted, 


DISQUIETUDE.  23 

few  could  have  come  up  to  the  purpose  better.  Nobody, 
unless  of  their  own  sex,  thought  of  their  dresses,  when  look- 
ing at  them. 

"  He  rides  very  badly/'  Philippa  said  ;  "  the  people 
from  the  lowlands  always  do.  He  may  not  have  courage 
to  go  home  to-night.  But  he  ought  to  have  thought  of 
that  before." 

"  Poor  man  !  We  must  offer  him  a  bed  of  course/' 
Mrs.  Carnaby  answered  ;  "  but  he  should  have  come  earlier 
in  the  day.  What  shall  we  do  with  him  when  he  has 
done  his  business  ?" 

"  It  is  not  our  place  to  amuse  our  lawyer.  He  might  go 
and  smoke  in  the  justice-room,  and  then  Welldrum  could 
play  bagatelle  with  him." 

"  Philippa,  you  forget  that  the  Jellicorses  are  of  a  good 
old  county  stock.  His  wife  is  a  stupid,  pretentious  thing  ; 
but  we  need  not  treat  him  as  we  must  treat  her.  And  it 
may  be  as  well  to  make  much  of  him,  perhaps,  if  there 
really  is  any  trouble  coming." 

4<  You  are  thinking  of  Pet.  By  the  bye,  are  you  certain 
that  Pet  cannot  get  at  Saracen  ?  You  know  how  he  let  him 
loose  last  Easter,  when  the  flag  was  flying,  and  the  poor 
man  has  been  in  his  bed  ever  since." 

' '  Jordas  will  see  to  that.  He  can  be  trusted  to  mind  the 
dogs  well,  ever  since  you  fined  him  in  a  fortnight's  wages. 
That  was  an  excellent  thought  of  yours." 

Jordas  might  have  been  cabled  the  keeper,  or  the  hind, 
or  the  henchman,  or  the  ranger,  or  the  porter,  or  the 
bailiff,  or  the  reeve,  or  some  other  of  some  fifty  names  of 
office,  in  a  place  of  more  civilization,  so  many  and  so  vari- 
ous were  his  tasks.  But  here  his  professional  name  was 
the  "  dogman  ;"  and  he  held  that  office  according  to  an 
ancient  custom  of  the  Scargate  race,  whence  also  his  sur- 
name (if  such  it  were)  arose.  For  of  old  time  and  in  out- 
landish parts  a  finer  humanity  prevailed,  and  a  richer  prac- 
tical wisdom  upon  certain  questions.  Irregular  offsets  of 
the  stock,  instead  of  being  cast  upon  the  world  as  waifs 
and  strays,  were  allowed  a  place  in  the  kitchen-garden  or 
stable-yard,  and  flourished  there  without  disgrace,  while 
useful  and  obedient.  Thus  for  generations  here  the  legiti- 


24  MARY   ANERLEY. 

mate  son  was  Yorclas,  and  took  the  house  and  manors  ;  the 
illegitimate  became  Jordas,  and  took  to  the  gate,  and  the 
minding  of  the  dogs,  and  any  other  office  of  fidelity. 

The  present  Jordas  was,  however,  of  less  immediate  kin 
to  the  owners,  being  only  the  son  of  a  former  Jordas,  and 
in  the  enjoyment  of  a  Christian  name,  which  never  was  pro- 
vided for  a  first-hand  Jordas  ;  and  now  as  his  mistress 
looked  out  on  the  terrace,  his  burly  figure  came  duly  forth, 
and  his  keen  eyes  ranged  the  walks  and  courts,  in  search  of 
Master  Lancelot,  who  gave  him  more  trouble  in  a  day  some- 
times than  all  the  dogs  cost  in  a  twelvemonth.  With  a 
fine  sense  of  mischief,  this  boy  delighted  to  watch  the  road 
for  visitors,  and  then  (if  barbarously  denied  his  proper  en- 
joyment and  that  of  the  dogs)  he  still  had  goodly  devices 
of  his  own  for  producing  little  tragedies. 

Mr,  Jellicorse  knew  Jordas  well,  and  felt  some  pity  for 
him,  because  if  his  grandmother  had  been  wiser  he  might 
have  been  the  master  now  ;  and  the  lawyer,  having  much 
good  feeling,  liked  not  to  make  a  groom  of  him.  Jordas, 
however,  knew  his  place,  and  touched  his  hat  respectfully, 
then  helped  the  solicitor  to  dismount,  the  which  was  sorely 
needed. 

44  You  came  not  by  the  way  of  the  ford,  sir  ?"  the  dog- 
man  asked,  while  considering  the  leathers  ;  "  the  water  is 
down  ;  you  might  have  saved  three  miles. ' ' 

44  Better  lose  thirty  than  my  life.  Will  any  of  your 
men,  Master  Jordas,  show  me  a  room,  where  I  may  prepare 
to  wait  upon  your  ladies  ?" 

Mr.  Jellicorse  walked  through  the  old  arched  gate  of  the 
reever's  court,  and  was  shown  to  a  room,  where  he  un- 
packed his  valise,  and  changed  his  riding-clothes,  and  re- 
freshed himself.  A.  jug  of  Scargate  ale  was  brought  to 
him,  and  a  bottle  of  foreign  wine,  with  the  cork  drawn, 
lest  he  should  hesitate  ;  also  a  cold  pie,  bread  and  butter, 
and  a  small  case-bottle  of  some  liqueur.  He  was  not  hun- 
gry, for  his  wife  had  cared  to  victual  him  well  for  the 
journey  ;  but  for  fear  of  offence  he  ate  a  morsel,  found  it 
good,  and  ate  some  more.  Then  after  a  sip  or  two  of  the 
liqueur,  and  a  glance  or  two  at  his  black  silk  stockings, 
buckled  shoes,  and  best  small-clothes,  he  felt  himself  fit  to 


DECISION. 

go  before  a  duchess,  as  once,  upon  a  time  lie  had  actually 
done,  and  expressed  himself  very  well  indeed  according  to 
the  dialogue  delivered,  whenever  he  told  the  story  about  it 
every  day. 

Welldrum,  the  butler,  was  waiting  for  him,  a  man  who 
had  his  own  ideas,  and  was  going  to  be  put  upon  by 
nobody.  "  If  my  father  could  only  come  to  life  for  one 
minute,  he  would  spend  it  in  kicking  that  man,"  Mrs. 
Oarnaby  had  exclaimed  about  him,  after  carefully  shutting 
the  door  ;  but  he  never  showed  airs  before  Miss  Yordas. 

"  Come  along,  sir,'7  Welldrum  said,  after  one  professional 
glance  at  the  tray,  to  ascertain  his  residue.  "  My  ladies 
have  been  waiting  this  half  hour  ;  and  for  sure,  sir,  you 
looks  wonderful  !  This  way,  sir,  and  have  a  care  of  them 
oak  fagots.  My  ladies,  Lawyer  Jellicorsc  !" 


CHAPTER  V. 

DECISION. 

THE  sun  was  well  down  and  away  behind  the  great  foil 
at  the  back  of  the  house,  and  the  large  and  heavily  fur- 
nished room  was  feebly  lit  by  four  wax-candles,  and  the  glow 
of  the  west  reflected  as  a  gleam  into  eastern  windows.  The 
lawyer  was  pleased  to  have  it  so,  and  to  speak  with  a  dimly- 
lighted  face.  The  ladies  looked  beautiful  ;  that  was  all 
that  Mr.  Jellicorse  could  say,  when  cross-examined  by  his 
wife  next  day  concerning  their  lace  and  velvet.  Whether 
they  wore  lace  or  net  was  almost  more  than  he  could 
for  he  did  not  heed  such  trifles  ;  but  velvet  was  within  his 
knowledge  (though  not  the  color  or  the  shape),  because  lie 
thought  "it  hot  for  summer,  until  he  remembered  what  the 
climate  was.  Really  he  could  say  nothing  more,  except 
that  they  looked  beautiful  ;  and  when  Mrs.  Jellicorse  jorkol 
her  head,  he  said  that  he  only  meant,  of  course,  considering 
their  time  of  life. 

The  ladies  saw  his  admiration,  and  felt  that  it  was  but- 
natural.     Mrs.  Carnaby  came  forward  kindly,  and 


26  MARY   AKERLEY. 

him  a  nice  warm  hand  ;  while  the  elder  sister  was  content 
to  bow,  and  thank  him  for  coming,  and  hope  that  he  was 
well.  As  yet  it  had  not  become  proper  for  a  gentleman, 
visiting  ladies,  to  yawn,  and  throw  himself  into  the  nearest 
chair,  and  cross  his  legs,  and  dance  one  foot,  and  ask  how 
much  the  toy-terrier  cost.  Mr.  Jellicorse  made  a  fine  series 
of  bows,  not  without  a  scrape  or  two,  which  showed  his 
goodly  calf  ;  and  after  that  he  waited  for  the  gracious  invi- 
tation to  sit  down. 

"  If  I  understood  your  letter  clearly, "  Mistress  Yordas 
began,  when  these  little  rites  were  duly  accomplished, 
*'  you  have  something  important  to  tell  us  concerning  our 
poor  property  here.  A  small  property,  Mr.  Jellicorse,  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  Duke  of  Lunedale,  but  perhaps  a 
little  longer  in  one  family." 

"  The  duke  is  a  new-fangled  interloper, "  replied  hypocrit- 
ical Jellicorse,  though  no  other  duke  was  the  husband  of 
the  duchess  of  whom  he  indited  daily  ;  * 4  properties  of  that 
sort  come  and  go,  and  only  tradesmen  notice  it.  Your 
estates  have  been  longer  in  the  seisin  of  one  family,  madam, 
than  any  other  in  the  riding,  or  perhaps  in  Yorkshire." 

"  We  never  seized  them  !"  cried  Mrs.  Carnaby,  being 
sensitive  as  to  ancestral  thefts,  through  tales  about  cattle- 
lifting  ;  "  you  must  be  aware  that  they  came  to  us  by  grant 
from  the  crown,  or  even  before  there  was  any  crown  to 
grant  them. ' ' 

"  I  beg  your  pardon  for  using  a  technical  word  without 
explaining  it.  Seisin  is  a  legal  word,  which  simply  means 
possession,  or  rather  the  bodily  holding  of  a  thing,  and  is 
used  especially  of  corporeal  hereditaments.  You  ladies 
have  seisin  of  this  house  and  lands,  although  you  never 
seized  them." 

44  The  last  thing  we  would  think  of  doing,"  answered 
Mrs.  Carnaby,  who  was  more  impulsive  than  her  sister,  also 
less  straightforward.  "  How  often  we  have  wished  that 
our  poor  lost  brother  had  not  been  deprived  of  them  !  But 
our  father's  will  was  sacred,  and  you  told  us  we  were  help- 
less. We  struggled,  as  you  know  ;  but  we  could  do  noth- 
ing." 

4  4  That  is  the  question  which  brought  me  here, ' '  the  law- 


DECISION.  27 

yor  said  very  quietly,  at  the  same  time  producing  a  small 
roll  of  parchment  sealed  in  cartridge-paper  ;  u  last  week  I 
discovered  a  document  which  I  am  forced  to  submit  to  your 
judgment.  Shall  I  read  it  to  you,  or  tell  its  purport 
briefly?" 

"  Whatever  it  may  be,  it  cannot  in  any  way  alter  our 
conchisions.  Our  conclusions  have  never  varied,  however 
deeply  they  may  have  grieved  us.  We  were  bound  to  do 
justice  to  our  dear  father." 

"  Certainly,  madam  ;  and  you  did  it.  Also,  as  I  know, 
you  did  it  as  kindly  as  possible  toward  other  relatives,  and 
you  only  met  with  perversity.  I  had  the  honor  of  prepar- 
ing your  respected  father's  will,  a  model  of  clearness  and 
precision,  considering — considering  the  time  afforded,  and 
other  disturbing  influences.  I  know  for  a  fact  that  a  copy 
was  laid  before  the  finest  draughtsman  in  London  by — by 
those  who  were  displeased  with  it,  and  his  words  were, 
'  Beautiful,  beautiful  !  Every  word  of  it  holds  water.' 
Now  that,  madam,  cannot  be  said  of  many,  indeed  of  not 
one  in — " 

"  Pardon  me  for  interrupting  you,  but  I  have  always  un- 
derstood you  to  speak  highly  of  it.  And  in  such  a  case, 
what  can  be  the  matter  ?" 

"  The  matter  of  all  matters,  madam,  is  that  the  testator 
should  have  disposing  power." 

"  He  could  dispose  of  his  own  property  as  lie  was  dis- 
posed, you  mean." 

"  You  misapprehend  me."  Mr.  Jellicorse  now  was  in  his 
element,  for  he  loved  to  lecture — an  absurdity  just  coming 
into  vogue.  "  Indulge  me  one  moment.  I  take  this  silver 
dish,  for  instance  ;  it  is  in  my  hands,  I  have  the  use  of  it  ; 
but  can  I  give  it  to  either  of  you  ladies  ?" 

"  Not  very  well,  because  it  belongs  to  us  already." 

"  You  misapprehend  me.  T  cannot  give  it,  because  it  is 
not  mine  to  give."  Mrs.  Carnaby  looked  puzzled. 

"  Eliza,  allow  me,"  said  Mistress  Yordas,  in  her  stiffor 
manner,  and  now  for  the  first  time  interfering  ;  "  Mr.  Jelli- 
corse assures  us  that  his  language  is  a  model  of  cleann — 
and  precision  ;  perhaps  he  will  prove  it  by  telling  us  now, 
in  plain  words,  what  his  meaning  is." 


28  MARY   ANEBLEY. 

"  What  I  mean,  madam,  is  that  your  respected  father 
could  devise  you  a  part  only  of  this  property,  because  the 
rest  was  not  his  to  devise.  He  only  had  a  life-interest  in 
it.7' 

' i  His  will  therefore  fails  as  to  some  part  of  the  property  ? 
How  much,  and  what  part,  if  you  please  ?" 

"  The  larger  and  better  part  of  the  estates,  including  this 
house  and  grounds,  and  the  home-farm." 

Mrs.  Carnaby  started  and  began  to  speak  ;  but  her  sister 
moved  only  to  stop  her,  and  showed  no  signs  of  dismay  or 
anger. 

44  For  fear  of  putting  too  many  questions  at  once,"  she 
said,  with  a  slight  bow  and  a  smile,  "  let  me  beg>  you  to 
explain,  as  shortly  as  possible,  this  very  surprising  matter." 

Mr.  Jellicorse  watched  her  with  some  suspicion,  because 
she  called  it  so  surprising,  yet  showed  so  little  surprise  her- 
self. For  a  moment  he  thought  that  she  must  have  heard 
of  the  document  now  in  his  hands  ;  but  he  vrery  soon  saw 
that  it  could  not  be  so.  It  was  only  the  ancient  Yordas 
pride,  perversity,  and  stiffneckedness.  And  even  Mrs. 
Carnaby,  strengthened  by  the  strength  of  her  sister,  man- 
aged to  look  as  if  nothing  more  than  a  tale  of  some  tenant 
were  pending.  But  this,  or  ten  times  this,  availed  not  to 
deceive  Mr.  Jellicorse.  That  gentleman,  having  seen  much 
of  the  world,  whispered  to  himself  that  this  was  all  "  high 
jinks,"  felt  himself  placed  on  the  stool  of  authority,  and 
evren  ventured  upon  a  pinch  of  snuff.  This  was  unwise, 
and  cost  him  dear,  for  the  ladies  would  not  have  been  true 
to  their  birth  if  they  had  not  stored  it  against  him. 

He,  however,  with  a  friendly  mind,  and  a  tap  now 
and  then  upon  his  document,  to  give  emphasis  to  his 
story,  recounted  the  whole  of  it,  and  set  forth  how  much 
was  come  of  it  already,  and  how  much  it  might  lead 
to.  To  Scargate  Hall,  and  the  better  part  of  the  prop- 
erty always  enjoyed  therewith,  Philippa  Yordas  and  Eliza 
Carnaby  had  no  claim  whatever,  except  on  the  score  of 
possession,  until  it  could  be  shown  that  their  brother  Dun- 
can was  dead,  without  any  heirs  or  assignment  (which 
might  have  come  to  pass  through  a  son  adult),  and  even  so 
his  widow  might  come  forward  and  give  trouble.  Con- 


DECISION. 

corning  all  that,  there  was  time  enough  to  think  ;  but 
something  must  be  done  at  once  to  cancel  the  bargain  with 
Sir  Walter  Oarnaby,  without  letting  his  man  of  law  get 
scent  of  the  fatal  defect  in  title.  And  now  that  the  ladies 
knew  all,  what  did  they  say  ? 

In  answer  to  this,  the  ladies  were  inclined  to  put  the 
whole  blame  upon  him,  for  not  having  managed  matters 
better  ;  and  when  he  had  shown  that  the  whole  of  it  was 
done  before  he  had  anything  to  do  with  it,  they  were  firmly 
convinced  that  he  ought  to  have  known  it,  and  found  a 
proper  remedy.  And  in  the  finished  manner  of  well-born 
ladies,  they  gave  him  to  know,  without  a  strong  expression, 
that  such  an  atrocity  was  a  black  stain  on  every  legal  son  of 
Satan,  living,  dead,  or  still  to  issue  from  Gerizim. 

"  That  cannot  affect  the  title  now  ;  I  assure  you,  madam, 
that  it  cannot, "  the  unfortunate  lawyer  exclaimed  at  last  ; 
"  and  as  for  damages,  poor  old  Duncombe  has  left  no  repre- 
sentatives, even  if  an  action  would  lie  now,  which  is  simply 
out  of  the  question.  On  my  part  no  neglect  can  be  shown  ; 
and  indeed  for  your  knowledge  of  the  present  state  of 
things,  if  humbly  I  may  say  so,  you  are  wholly  indebted  to 
my  zeal." 

44  Sir,  I  heartily  wish,"  Mrs.  Carnaby  replied,  "  that 
your  zeal  had  been  exhausted  on  your  own  affairs." 

"  Eliza,  Mr.  Jellicorse  has  acted  well,  and  we  cannot 
feel  too  much  obliged  to  him."  Miss  Yordas,  having 
humor  of  a  sort,  smiled  faintly  at  the  donble  meaning  of 
her  own  words,  which  was  not  intended.  *'  Whatever  is 
right  must  be  done  of  course,  according  to  the  rule  of  our 
family.  In  such  a  case  it  appears  to  me  that  mere  niceties 
of  laws,  and  quips  and  quirks,  are  entirely  subordinate  to 
high  sense  of  honor.  The  first  consideration  must  be 
thoroughly  unselfish  and  pure  justice." 

The  lawyer  looked  at  her  with  admiration.  He  ^ 
capable  of  large  sentiments.  And  yet  a  faint  shadow  of 
disappointment  lingered  in  the  folios  of  his  heart — tln-iv 
might  have  been  such  a  very  grand  long  suit,  upon  which 
his  grandson  (to  be  born  next  month)  might  have  been 
enabled  to  settle  for  life,  and  bring  up  a  legal  family.  Jus- 
tice, however,  was  justice,  and  more  noble  than  even  such 


30  MARY   AKEKLEY. 

prospects.  So  he  bowed  his  head,  and  took  another  pinch 
of  snuff. 

But  Mrs.  Carnaby  (who  had  wept  a  little,  in  a  place  be- 
yond the  candle-light)  came  back  with  a  passionate  flush  in 
her  eyes,  and  a  resolute  bearing  of  her  well-formed  neck. 

"  Philippa,  I  am  amazed  at  you,7'  she  said.  "  Mr.  Jel- 
licorse,  my  share  is  equal  with  my  sister's,  and  more,  be- 
cause my  son  comes  after  me.  Whatever  she  may  do,  I 
will  never  yield  a  pin's  point  of  my  rights,  and  leave  my 
son  a  beggar.  Philippa,  would  you  make  Pet  a  beggar  ? 
And  his  turtle  in  bed,  before  the  sun  is  on  the  window,  and 
his  sturgeon- jelly  when  he  gets  out  of  bed  !  There  never 
was  any  one,  by  a  good  Providence,  less  sent  into  the  world 
to  be  a  beggar. ' ' 

Mrs.  Carnaby,  having  discharged  her  meaning,  began  to 
be  overcome  by  it.  She  sat  down,  in  fear  of  hysteria,  but 
with  her  mind  made  up  to  stop  it  ;  while  the  gallant  Jelli- 
corse  was  swept  away  by  her  eloquence,  mixed  with  profes- 
sional views.  But  it  came  home  to  him,  from  experience 
with  his  wife,  that  the  less  he  said  the  wiser.  But  while 
he  moved  about,  and  almost  danced,  in  his  strong  desire  to 
be  useful,  there  was  another  who  sat  quite  still,  and  meant 
to  have  the  final  say. 

'*  From  some  confusion  of  ideas,  I  suppose,  or  possibly 
through  my  own  fault,"  Philippa  Yordas  said,  with  less 
contempt  in  her  voice  than  in  her  mind,  "  it  seems  that  I 
cannot  make  my  meaning  clear,  even  to  my  own  sister.  I 
said  that  we  first  must  do  the  right,  and  scorn  all  legal  sub- 
tleties. That  we  must  maintain  unselfish  justice  and  high 
sense  of  honor.  Can  there  be  any  doubt  what  these  dic- 
tate ?  What  sort  of  daughters  should  we  be  if  we  basely 
betrayed  our  own  father's  will  ?" 

"  Excellent  madam,"  the  lawyer  said,  "  that  view  of  the 
case  never  struck  me.  But  there  is  a  great  deal  in  it." 

"  O  Philippa,  how  noble  you  are  !"  her  sister  Eliza 
cried  ;  and  cried  no  more,  so  far  as  tears  go,  for  a  long 
time  afterward. 


ANEKLEY   FARM.  31 

CHAPTER  VI. 

A  N E  R  L  E  Y     FARM. 

ON  the  eastern  coast  of  the  same  great  county,  at  more 
than  ninety  miles  of  distance  for  a  homing  pigeon,  and 
some  hundred  and  twenty  for  a  carriage  from  the  Hall  of 
Yordas,  there  was  in  those  days,  and  there  still  may  be 
found,  a  property  of  no  vast  size,  snug,  however,  and  of 
good  repute,  and  called  universally  4 '  Anerley  Farm. ' ' 
How  long  it  has  borne  that  name,  it  knows  not,  neither 
cares  to  moot  the  question  ;  and  there  lives  no  antiquary  of 
enough  antiquity  to  decide  it.  A  place  of  smiling  hope, 
and  comfort,  and  content  with  quietude  ;  no  memory  of 
man  about  it  runneth  to  the  contrary  ;  while  every  ox,  and 
horse,  and  sheep,  and  fowl,  and  frisky  porker  is  full  of 
warm  domestic  feeling  and  each  homely  virtue. 

For  this  land,  like  a  happy  country,  has  escaped,  for 
years  and  years,  the  affliction  of  much  history.  It  has  not 
felt  the  desolating  tramp  of  lawyer  or  land-agent,  nor  been 
bombarded  by  fine  and  recovery,  lease  and  release,  bargain 
and  sale,  Doe  and  Roe  and  Geoffrey  Styles,  and  the  rest 
of  the  pitiless  shower  of  slugs,  ending  with  a  charge  of 
Demons.  Blows  and  blights,  and  plagues  of  that  sort,  have 
not  come  to  Anerley,  nor  any  other  drain  of  nurture  to  ex- 
haust the  green  of  meadow  and  the  gold  of  harvest.  Here 
stands  the  homestead  and  here  lies  the  meadow-land  ;  there 
walk  the  kine  (having  no  call  to  run),  and  yonder  the  wheat 
in  the  hollow  of  the  hill,  bowing  to  a  silvery  stroke  of  the 
wind,  is  touched  with  a  promise  of  increasing  gold. 

As  good  as  the  cattle  and  the  crops  themselves  arc  the 
people  that  live  upon  them  ;  or  at  least,  in  a  fair  degree, 
they  try  to  be  so  ;  though  not  of  course  so  harmless,  or 
faithful,  or  peaceful,  or  charitable.  But  still,  in  propor- 
tion, they  may  be  called  as  good  ;  and  in  fact  they  believe 
themselves  much  better.  And  this  from  no  conceit  of  any 
sort,  beyond  what  is  indispensable  ;  for  nature  not  only 
enables  but  compels  a  man  to  look  down  upon  his  betters. 

From   generation  to   generation,    man,    and   beast,   and 


32  MARY    AKEKLEY. 

house,  and  land  have  gone  on  in  succession  here,  replacing, 
following,  renewing,  repairing  and  being  repaired,  demand- 
ing and  getting  more  support,  with  such  judicious  give-and- 
take,  and  thoroughly  good  understanding,  that  now  in  the 
August  of  this  year,  when  Scargate  Hall  is  full  of  care,  and 
afraid  to  cart  a  load  of  dung,  Anerley  Farm  is  quite  at  ease, 
and  in  the  very  best  of  heart,  man,  and  horse,  and  land, 
and  crops,  and  the  cock  that  crows  the  time  of  day. 
Nevertheless,  no  acre  yet  in  Yorkshire,  or  in  the  whole 
wide  world,  has  ever  been  so  farmed  or  fenced,  as  to  ex- 
clude the  step  of  change. 

From  father  to  son  the  good  lands  had  passed,  without 
even  a  will  to  disturb  them,  except  at  distant  intervals  ; 
and  the  present  owner  was  Stephen  Anerley,  a  thrifty  and 
well-to-do  Yorkshire  farmer  of  the  olden  type.  Master 
Anerley  was  turned  quite  lately  of  his  fifty-second  year,  and 
hopeful  (if  so  pleased  the  Lord)  to  turn  a  good  many  more 
years  yet,  as  a  strong  horse  works  his  furrow.  For  he  was 
strong  and  of  a  cheerful  face,  ruddy,  square,  and  steadfast, 
built  up  also  with  firm  body  to  a  wholesome  stature,  and  able 
to  show  the  best  man  on  the  farm  the  way  to  swing  a 
pitchfork.  Yet  might  he  be  seen,  upon  every  Lord's  Day, 
as  clean  as  a  new-shelled  chestnut  ;  neither  at  any  time  of 
the  week  was  he  dirtier  than  need  be.  Happy  alike  in  the 
place  of  his  birth,  his  lot  in  life,  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
powers  appointed  over  him,  he  looked  up,  with  a  substantial 
faith,  yet  a  solid  reserve  of  judgment,  to  the  Church,  the 
justices  of  the  peace,  spiritual  lords  and  temporal,  and  above 
all  His  Majesty  George  the  Third.  Without  any  reserve  of 
judgment,  which  could  not  deal  with  such  low  subjects,  he 
looked  down  upon  every  dissenter,  every  pork-dealer,  and 
every  Frenchman.  What  he  was  brought  up  to,  that  he 
would  abide  by  ;  and  the  sin  beyond  repentance,  to  his 
mind,  was  the  sin  of  the  turn-coat. 

With  all  these  hard-set  lines  of  thought,  or  of  doctrine 
(the  scabbard  of  thought,  which  saves  its  edge,  and  keeps 
it  out  of  mischief),  Stephen  Anerley  was  not  hard,  or  stern, 
or  narrow-hearted.  Kind,  and  gentle,  and  good  to  every 
one  who  knew  "  how  to  behave  himself, "  and  dealing  to 
every  man  full  justice — meted  by  his  own  measure — he  was 


ANE11LEY    FARM.  ',]?> 

liable  even  to  generous  acts,  after  being  severe  and  having 
liis  own  way.  But  if  anybody  ever  got  the  better  of  him, 
by  lies  and  not  fair  bettering,  that  man  had  wiser  not 
begin  to  langh  inside  the  Riding.  Stephen  Anerley 
slow  but  sure  ;  not  so  very  keen,  perhaps,  but  grained  with 
kerns  of  maximed  thought,  to  meet  his  uses  as  they  came, 
and  to  make  a  rogue  uneasy.  To  move  him  from  such 
thoughts  was  hard  ;  but  to  move  him  from  a  spoken  word 
had  never  been  found  possible. 

The  wife  of  this  solid  man  was  solid  and  well  fitted  to 
him.  In  early  days,  by  her  own  account,  she  had  pos- 
sessed considerable  elegance,  and  was  not  devoid  of  it  even 
now,  whenever  she  received  a  visitor  capable  of  understand- 
ing it.  But  for  home  use  that  gift  had  been  cut  short, 
almost  in  the  honeymoon,  by  a  total  want  of  appreciation 
on  the  part  of  her  husband.  And  now,  after  five-and- 
twenty  years  of  studying  and  entering  into  him,  she  had 
fairly  earned  his  firm  belief  that  she  was  the  wisest  of 
women.  For  she  always  agreed  with  him  when  he  wished 
it  ;  and  she  knew  exactly  when  to  contradict  him,  and  that 
was  before  he  had  said  a  thing  at  all,  and  while  he  was  roll- 
ing it  slowly  in  his  mind,  with  a  strong  tendency  against  it. 
In  outdoor  matters  she  never  meddled,  without  being  spe- 
cially consulted  by  the  master  ;  but  indoors  she  governed 
with  watchful  eyes,  a  firm  hand,  and  a  quiet  tongue. 

This  good  woman  now  was  fivc-and-forty  years  of  age, 
vigorous,  clean,  and  of  a  very  pleasant  look,  with  that  rir.h- 
ness  of  color  which  settles  on  fair  women  when  the  fugitive 
beauty  of  blushing  is  past.  When  the  work  of  the  morn- 
ing was  done,  and  the  clock  ticked  in  the  kitchen  only  ten 
minutes  from  twelve,  and  the  dinner  was  fit  for  the  dishing, 
then  Mistress  Anerley  remembered  as  a  rule  the  necessity 
of  looking  to  her  own  appearance.  She  went  upstairs, 
with  a  quarter  of  an  hour  to  spare,  but  not  to  squander,  and 
she  came  down  so  neat  that  the  farmer  was  obliged  to  bo 
careful  in  helping  the  gravy.  For  she  always  sat  next  to 
him,  as  she  had  done  before  there  came  any  children,  ami 
it  seemed  ever  since  to  be  the  best  place  for  her  to  manage 
their  plates  and  their  manners  as  well. 

Alas  !  that  the  kindest  and  wisest  of  women  have  one  (if 

3 


34  MARY   AKERLF.Y. 

not  twenty)  blind  sides  to  them  ;  and  if  any  such  weakness  is 
pointed  out,  it  is  sure  to  have  come  from  their  father.  Mis- 
tress Anerley's  weakness  was  almost  conspicuous  to  herself 
— she  worshipped  her  eldest  son,  perhaps  the  least  worship- 
ful of  the  family. 

Willie  Anerley  was  a  fine  young  fellow,  two  inches  taller 
than  his  father,  with  delicate  features,  and  curly  black  hair, 
and  cheeks  as  bright  as  a  maiden's.  He  had  soft  blue  eyes, 
and  a  rich  clear  voice,  with  a  melancholy  way  of  saying 
things,  as  if  he  were  above  all  this.  And  yet  he  looked  not 
like  a  fool  ;  neither  was  he  one  altogether  when  he  began 
to  think  of  things.  The  worst  of  him  was  that  he  always 
wanted  something  new  to  go  on  with.  He  never  could  be 
idle  ;  and  yet  he  never  worked  to  the  end  which  crowns  the 
task.  In  the  early  stage  he  would  labor  hard,  be  full  of 
the  greatness  of  his  aim,  and  demand  everybody's  interest, 
exciting  also  mighty  hopes  of  what  was  safe  to  come  of  it. 
And  even  after  that,  he  sometimes  carried  on  with  patience  ; 
but  he  had  no  perseverance.  Once  or  twice  he  had  been 
on  the  very  nick  of  accomplishing  something,  and  had 
driven  home  his  nail — but  there  he  let  it  spring  back  with- 
out clinching.  "  Oh,  any  fool  can  do  that  !"  he  cried  ; 
and  never  stood  to  it,  to  do  it  again,  or  to  see  that  it  came 
not  undone.  In  a  word,  he  stuck  to  nothing,  but  swerved 
about,  here,  there,  and  everywhere. 

His  father,  being  of  so  different  a  cast,  and  knowing  how 
often  the  wisest  of  men  must  do  what  any  fool  can  do,  was 
bitterly  vexed  at  the  flighty  ways  of  Willie,  and  could  no 
more  than  hope,  with  a  general  contempt,  that  when  the 
boy  grew  older  he  might  be  a  wiser  fool.  But  Willie's 
dear  mother  maintained,  with  great  consistency,  that  such 
a  perfect  wonder  could  never  be  expected  to  do  anything 
not  wonderful.  To  this  the  farmer  used  to  listen  with  a 
grim,  decorous  smile  ;  thengnimbled,  as  soon  as  he  was  out 
of  hearing,  and  fell  to  and  did  the  little  jobs  himself. 

Sore  jealousy  of  Willie,  perhaps,  and  keen  sense  of  in- 
justice, as  well  as  high  spirit  and  love  of  adventure,  had 
driven  the  younger  son  Jack  from  home,  and  launched  him 
on  a  seafaring  life.  With  a  stick  and  a  bundle  he  had 
departed  from  the  ancestral  fields  and  lanes,  one  summer 


AXERLEY   FARM.  35 

morning,  about  three  years  since,  when  the  cows  were  low- 
ing for  the  milk-pail,  and  a  royal  cutter  was  cruising  off  the 
Head.  For  a  twelvemonth  nothing  was  heard  of  him,  until 
there  came  a,  letter  beginning,  4i  Dear  and  respected 
parents/'  and  ending,  "  Your  affectionate  and  dutiful  son, 
Jack. "  The  body  of  the  letter  was  of  three  lines  only, 
occupied  entirely  with  kind  inquiries  as  to  the  welfare  of 
everybody,  especially  his  pup,  and  his  old  pony,  and  dear 
sister  Mary. 

Mary  Anerley,  the  only  daughter  and  the  youngest  child, 
well  deserved  that  best  remembrance  of  the  distant  sailor  ; 
though  Jack  may  have  gone  too  far  in  declaring  (as  he  did 
till  he  came  to  his  love-time)  that  the  world  contained  no 
other  girl  fit  to  hold  a  candle  to  her.  No  doubt  it  would 
have  been  hard  to  find  a  girl  more  true  and  loving,  more 
modest  and  industrious  ;  but  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  bet- 
ter girls  might  be  found  perhaps  even  in  Yorkshire. 

For  this  maiden  had  a  strong  will  of  her  own,  which 
makes  against  absolute  perfection  ;  also  she  was  troubled 
with  a  strenuous  hate  of  injustice — which  is  sure,  in  this 
world,  to  find  cause  for  an  outbreak — and  too  active  a  desire 
to  rush  after  what  is  right,  instead  of  being  well  content  to 
wait  for  that  chary  visitor.  And  so  firm  could  she  be, 
when  her  mind  was  set,  that  she  would  not  take  parables, 
or  long  experience,  or  even  kindly  laughter,  as  a  power  to 
move  her  from  the  thing  she  meant.  II er  mother,  knowing 
better  how  the  world  goes  on,  promiscuously,  and  at  leisure, 
and  how  the  right  point  slides  away,  when  stronger  f» 
come  to  bear,  was  very  often  vexed  by  the  crotchets  of  the 
girl,  and  called  her  wayward,  headstrong,  and  sometimes 
nothing  milder  than  "  a  saucy  miss." 

This,  however,  was  absurd,  and  Mary  scarcely  deigned  to 
cry  about  it,  but  went  to  her  father,  as  she  always  did  when 
any  weight  lay  on  her  mind.  Nothing  was  said  about  any 
injustice,  because  that  might  lead  to  more  of  it,  as  well  ;i^ 
be  (from  a  proper  point  of  view)  most  indecorous.  Nov.  i- 
theless  it  was  felt  between  them,  when  her  pretty  hair  WM-; 
shed  upon  his  noble  waistcoat,  that  they  two  were  in  tlic 
right,  and  cared  very  little  who  thought  otherwise. 

"Now  it  was  time  to  leave  off  this  ;  for  Mary  (without 


36  MARY   ANERLEY. 

heed  almost  of  any  but  her  mother)  had  turned  into  a  full- 
grown  damsel,  comely,  sweet,  and  graceful.  She  was  tall 
enough  never  to  look  short,  and  short  enough  never  to  seem 
too  tall,  even  when  her  best  feelings  were  outraged  ;  and 
nobody,  looking  at  her  face,  could  wish  to  do  anything  but 
please  her  ;  so  kind  was  the  gaze  of  her  deep  blue  eyes,  so 
pleasant  the  frankness  of  her  gentle  forehead,  so  playful  the 
readiness  of  rosy  lips  for  a  pretty  answer  or  a  lovely  smile. 
But  if  any  could  be  found  so  callous  and*  morose  as  not  to 
be  charmed  or  nicely  cheered  by  this,  let  him  only  take  a 
longer  look,  not  rudely,  but  simply  in  a  spirit  of  polite  in- 
quiry ;  and  then  would  he  see,  on  the  delicate  rounding  of 
each  soft  and  dimpled  cheek,  a  carmine  hard  to  match  on 
pallet,  morning  sky,  or  flower-bed. 

Lovely  people  ought  to  be  at  home  in  lovely  places  ;  and 
though  this  cannot  be  so  always,  as  a  general  rule  it  is. 
At  Anerley  Farm  the  land  was  equal  to  the  stock  it  had  to 
bear,  whether  of  trees,  or  corn,  or  cattle,  hogs,  or  mush- 
rooms, or  mankind.  The  farm  was  not  so  large  or  ram- 
bling as  to  tire  the  mind  or  foot,  yet  wide  enough  and  full 
of  change — rich  pasture,  hazel  copse,  green  valleys,  fallows 
brown,  and  golden  breast-lands  pillowing  into  nooks  of 
fern,  clumps  of  shade  for  horse  or  heifer,  and  for  rabbits 
sandy  warren,  furzy  cleve  for  hare  and  partridge,  not  with- 
out a  little  mere  for  willows  and  for  wild  ducks.  And  the 
whole  of  the  land,  with  a  general  slope  of  liveliness  and 
rejoicing,  spread  itself  well  to  the  sun,  with  a  strong  incli- 
nation toward  the  morning,  to  catch  the  cheery  import  of 
his  voyage  across  the  sea. 

The  pleasure  of  this  situation  was  the  more  desirable,  be- 
cause of  all  the  parts  above  it  being  bleak  and  dreary. 
Round  the  shoulders  of  the  upland,  like  the  arch  of  a  great 
arm-chair,  ran  a  barren  scraggy  ridge,  whereupon  no  tree 
could  stand  upright,  no  cow  be  certain  of  her  own  tail,  and 
scarcely  a  crow  breast  the  violent  air  by  stooping  ragged 
pinions.  So  furious  was  the  rush  of  wind  when  any  power 
awoke  the  clouds  ;  or  sometimes  when  the  air  was  jaded 
with  continual  conflict,  a  heavy  settlement  of  brackish  cloud 
lay  upon  a  waste  of  chalky  flint. 

By  dint  of  persevering  work,  there  are  many  changes  for 


AKERLEY  FARM.  37 

the  better  now,  more  shelter  and  more  root-hold  ;  but  still 
it  is  a  battle-g round  of  winds,  which  rarely  change  their 
habits,  for  this  is  the  chump  of  the  spine  of  the  Wolds, 
which  hulks  up  at  last  into  Flamborough  Head. 

Flamborough  Head,  the  farthest  forefront  of  a  bare  and 
jagged  coast,  stretches  boldly  off  to  eastward,  a  strong  and 
rugged  barrier.  Away  to  the  north  the  land  falls  back, 
with  coving  bends,  and  some  straight  lines  of  precipice 
and  shingle,  to  which  the  German  Ocean  sweeps,  seldom 
free  from  sullen  swell,  in  the  very  best  of  weather.  But  to 
the  southward  of  the  Head  a  different  spirit  seems  to  move 
upon  the  face  of  everything.  For  here  is  spread  a  peaceful 
bay,  and  plains  of  brighter  sea  more  gently  furrowed  by 
the  wind,  and  cliffs  that  have  no  cause  to  be  so  steep,  and 
bathing-places,  and  scarcely  freckled  sands,  where  towns 
may  lay  their  drain-pipes  undisturbed.  In  short,  to  have 
rounded  that  headland  from  the  north  is  as  good  as  to  turn 
the  corner  of  a  garden-wall  in  March,  and  pass  from  a 
buffeted  back,  and  bare  shivers,  to  a  sunny  front  of  hope 
all  as  busy  as  a  bee,  with  pears  spurring  forward  into 
creamy  buds  of  promise,  peach-trees  already  in  a  flush  of 
tasselled  pink,  and  the  green  lobe  of  apricot  crouching 
under  pointed  buttons  of  unopened  leaf. 

Below  this  point,  the  gallant  skipper  of  the  British  col- 
lier, slouching  with  a  heavy  load  of  grime  for  London,  or 
waddling  back  in  ballast  to  his  native  north,  alike  is  de- 
lighted to  discover  storms  ahead  and  to  cast  his  tarry 
anchor  into  soft  gray  calm.  For  here  shall  he  find  the  good 
shelter  of  friends  like-minded  with  himself,  and  of  hospit- 
able turn,  having  no  cause  to  hurry,  any  more  than  he  has, 
all  too  wise  to  command  their  own  ships  ;  and  here  will 
they  all  jollify  together,  while  the  sky  holds  a  cloud  or 
the  locker  a  drop.  Nothing  here  can  shake  their  ships, 
except  a  violent  east  wind,  against  which  they  wet  the  other 
eye  ;  lazy  boats  visit  them  with  comfort  and  delight,  while 
white  waves  are  leaping  in  the  offing  ;  they  cherish  their 
well-earned  rest,  and  eat  the  lotus — or  rather  the  onion — 
and  drink  ambrosial  grog  ;  they  lean  upon  the  bulwarks, 
and  contemplate  their  shadows — the  noblest  possible  em- 
ployment for  mankind — and  lo,  if  they  care  to  lift  their 


38  MARY   AKERLEY. 

eyes,  in  the  south  shines  the  quay  of  Bridlington,  inland 
the  long  ridge  of  Priory  stands  high,  and  westward  in  a 
nook,  if  they  level  well  a  clear  glass  (after  holding  on  the 
slope  so  many  steamy  ones),  they  may  espy  Anerley  Farm, 
and  sometimes  Mary  Anerley  herself. 

For  she,  when  the  ripple  of  the  tide  is  fresh,  and  the 
glance  of  the  summer  morn  glistening  on  the  sands,  also  if 
a  little  rocky  basin  happens  to  be  fit  for  shrimping,  and 
only  some  sleepy  ships  at  anchor  in  the  distance  look  at 
her,  fearless  she — because  all  sailors  are  generally  down  at 
breakfast — tucks  up  her  skirt,  and  gayly  runs  upon  the 
accustomed  playground,  with  her  pony  left  to  wait  for  her. 
The  pony  is  old,  while  she  is  young  (although  she  was  born 
before  him),  and  now  he  belies  his  name,  "  Lord  Keppel," 
by  starting  at  every  soft  glimmer  of  the  sea.  Therefore 
now  he  is  left  to  roam  at  his  leisure  above  high-water  mark, 
poking  his  nose  into  black  dry  weed,  probing  the  winnow- 
casts  of  yellow  drift  for  oats,  and  snorting  disappointment 
through  a  gritty  dance  of  sand-hoppers. 

Mary  has  brought  him  down  the  old  "  Dane's  Dyke"  for 
society  rather  than  service,  and  to  strengthen  his  nerves  with 
the  dew  of  the  salt,  for  the  sake  of  her  Jack  who  loved 
him.  He  may  do  as  he  likes,  as  he  always  does.  If  his 
conscience  allows  him  to  walk  home,  no  one  will  think  the 
less  of  him.  Having  very  little  conscience  at  his  time  of 
life  (after  so  much  contact  with  mankind),  he  considers 
convenience  only.  To  go  home  would  suit  him  very  well, 
but  his  crib  would  be  empty  till  his  young  mistress  came  ; 
moreover,  there  is  a  little  dog  that  plagues  him  when  his 
door  is  open  ;  and  in  spite  of  old  age,  it  is  something  to  be 
free  ;  and  in  spite  of  all  experience,  to  hope  for  something 
good.  Therefore  Lord  Keppel  is  as  faithful  as  the  rocks  ; 
he  lifts  his  long  heavy  head  and  gazes  wistfully  at  the 
anchored  ships,  and  Mary  is  sure  that  the  darling  pines  for 
his  absent  master. 

But  she  with  the  multitudinous  tingle  of  youth  runs 
away  rejoicing.  The  crisping  power  and  brilliance  of  the 
morning  are  upon  her,  and  the  air  of  the  bright  sea  lifts 
and  spreads  her,  like  a  pillowy  skate's  egg.  The  polish 
of  the  wet  sand  flickers,  like  veneer  of  maple-wood,  at 


A   DANE   IN   THE   DIKE.  39 

every  quick  touch  of  her  dancing  feet.  Her  dancing  feet 
are  as  light  as  nature  and  high  spirits  made  them,  not  only 
quit  of  spindle  heels,  but  even  free  from  shoes  and  socks 
left  high  and  dry  on  the  shingle.  And  lighter  even  than 
the  dancing  feet  the  merry  heart  is  dancing,  laughing  at 
the  shadows  of  its  own  delight ;  while  the  radiance  of  blue 
eyes  springs,  like  a  fount  of  brighter  heaven  ;  and  the 
sunny  hair  falls,  flows,  or  floats,  to  provoke  the  wind  for 
playmate. 

Such  a  pretty  sight  was  good  to  see  for  innocence  and 
largeness.  So  the  buoyancy  of  nature  springs  anew  in  those 
who  have  been  weary,  when  they  see  her  brisk  power  in- 
spiring the  young,  who  never  stand  still  to  think  of  her, 
but  are  up  and  away  with  her,  where  she  will,  at  the 
breath  of  her  subtle  encouragement. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

A    DANE    IN    THE    DIKE. 

Now,  whether  spy-glass  had  been  used  by  any  watchful 
mariner,  or  whether  only  blind  chance  willed  it,  sure  it  is 
that  one  fine  morning  Mary  met  with  somebody.  And  this 
was  the  more  remarkable,  when  people  came  to  think  of  it, 
because  it  was  only  the  night  before  that  her  mother  had 
almost  said  as  much. 

**  Ye  munna  gaw  doon  te  t*  sea  be  yersell,"  Mistress 
Anerley  said  to  her  daughter  ;  ' '  happen  ye  mought  be  one 
too  many. ' ' 

Master  Anerley 's  wife  had  been  at  "  boarding-school, " 
as  far  south  as  Suffolk,  and  could  speak  the  very  best  of 
Southern  English  (like  her  daughter  Mary)  upon  polite 
occasion.  But  family  cares  and  farm-house  life  had 
partly  cured  her  of  her  education,  and  from  troubles  of 
distant  speech  she  had  returned  to  the  ease  of  her  native 
dialect. 

"  And  if  I  go  not  to  the  sea  by  myself, "  asked  Mary, 
with  natural  logic,  *'  why,  who  is  there  now  to  go  with 


40  MARY   ANERLEY. 

me  ?"  She  was  thinking  of  her  sadly-missed  comrade, 
Jack. 

"  Happen  some  day  perhaps,  one  too  many." 

The  maiden  was  almost  too  innocent  to  blush  ;  but  her 
father  took  her  part  as  usual. 

"  The  little  lass  sail  gaw  doon,"  he  said,  "  wheniver  sha 
likes. ' '  And  so  she  went  down  the  next  morning. 

A  thousand  years  ago  the  Dane's  Dike  must  have  been 
a  very  grand  intrenchment,  and  a  thousand  years  ere  that 
perhaps  it  was  still  grander  ;  for  learned  men  say  that  it  is 
a  British  work,  wrought  out  before  the  Danes  had  even  learn- 
ed to  build  a  ship.  Whatever,  however,  may  be  argued 
about  that,  the  wise  and  the  witless  do  agree  about  one  thing 
— the  stronghold  inside  it  has  been  held  by  Danes,  while 
severed  by  the  dike  from  inland  parts  ;  and  these  Danes 
made  a  good  colony  of  their  own,  and  left  to  their  descend- 
ants distinct  speech  and  manners,  some  traces  of  which  are 
existing  even  now.  The  dike,  extending  from  the  rough 
north  sea  to  the  calmer  waters  of  Bridlington  Bay,  is  noth- 
ing more  than  a  deep  dry  trench,  skilfully  following  the 
hollows  of  the  ground,  and  cutting  off  Flamborough  Head 
and  a  solid  cantle  of  high  land  from  the  rest  of  Yorkshire. 
The  corner,  so  intercepted,  used  to  be  and  is  still  called 
"  Little  Denmark  ;"  and  the  indwellers  feel  a  large  con- 
tempt for  all  their  outer  neighbors.  And  this  is  sad,  be- 
cause Anerley  Farm  lies  wholly  outside  of  the  dike,  which 
for  a  long  crooked  distance  serves  as  its  eastern  boundary. 

Upon  the  morning  of  the  self-same  day  that  saw  Mr.  Jel- 
licorse  set  forth  upon  his  return  from  Scargate  Hall,  armed 
with  instructions  to  defy  the  Devil,  and  to  keep  his  dis- 
covery quiet — upon  a  lovely  August  morning  of  the  first 
year  of  a  new  century,  Mary  Anerley,  blithe  and  gay,  came 
riding  down  the  grassy  hollow  of  this  ancient  Dane's  Dike. 
This  was  her  shortest  way  to  the  sea,  and  the  tide  would 
suit  (if  she  could  only  catch  it)  for  a  take  of  shrimps,  and 
perhaps  even  prawns,  in  time  for  her  father's  breakfast. 
And  not  to  lose  this,  she  arose  right  early,  and  rousing 
Lord  Keppel,  set  forth  for  the  spot  where  she  kept  her  net 
covered  with  sea-weed.  The  sun,  though  up  and  brisk 
already  upon  sea  and  foreland,  had  not  found  time  to  rout 


A   DANE   1ST  THE   DIKE.  41 

the  shadows  skulking  in  the  dingles.  But  even  here,  where 
sap  of  time  had  breached  the  turfy  ramparts,  the  hover  of 
the  dew-mist  passed  away,  and  the  steady  light  was  un- 
folded. 

For  the  season  was  early  August  still,  with  beautiful 
weather  come  at  last  ;  and  the  green  world  seemed  to  stand 
on  tip-toe  to  make  the  extraordinary  acquaintance  of  the 
sun.  Humble  plants  which  had  long  lain  flat  stood  up  with 
a  sense  of  casting  something  off  ;  and  the  damp  heavy 
trunks  which  had  trickled  for  a  twelvemonth,  or  been  only 
sponged  with  moss,  were  hailing  the  fresher  light  with 
keener  lines  and  dove-colored  tints  upon  their  smoother 
boles.  Then,  conquering  the  barrier  of  the  eastern  land- 
crest,  rose  the  glorious  sun  himself,  strewing  before  him 
trees  and  crags  in  long  steep  shadows  down  the  hilL  Then 
the  sloping  rays,  through  furze  and  brushland,  kindling  the 
sparkles  of  the  dew,  descended  to  the  brink  of  the  dike, 
and  scorning  to  halt  at  petty  obstacles,  with  a  hundred 
golden  hurdles  bridged  it,  wherever  any  opening  was. 

Under  this  luminous  span,  or  through  it  where  the  cross- 
ing gullies  ran,  Mary  Anerley  rode  at  leisure,  allowing  her 
pony  to  choose  his  pace.  That  privilege  he  had  long 
secured,  in  right  of  age,  and  wisdom,  and  remarkable  force 
of  character.  Considering  his  time  of  life,  he  looked  well, 
and  sleek,  and  almost  sprightly  ;  and  so,  without  any 
reservation,  did  his  gentle  and  graceful  rider.  The  maiden 
looked  well  in  a  place  like  that,  as  indeed  in  almost  any 
place  ;  but  now  she  especially  set  off  the  color  of  things, 
and  was  set  off  by  them.  For  instance,  how  could  the  sil- 
ver of  the  dew-cloud,  and  golden  weft  of  sunrise,  playing 
through  the  dapples  of  a  partly  wooded  glen,  do  better  (in 
the  matter  of  variety)  than  frame  a  pretty  moving  figure  in  a 
pink  checked  frock,  with  a  skirt  of  russet  murrey,  and  a 
bright  brown  hat  ?  Not  that  the  hat  itself  was  bright,  even 
under  the  kiss  of  sunshine,  simply  having  seen  already  too 
much  of  the  sun  ;  but  rather  that  its  early  lustre  seemed  to 
be  revived  by  a  sense  of  the  happy  position  it  was  in  ;  the 
clustering  hair  and  the  bright  eyes  beneath  it  answering  the 
sunny  dance  of  life  and  light.  Many  a  handsomer  face,  no 
doubt,  more  perfect,  grand,  and  lofty,  received — at  least  if 


42  MARY   ANERLEY. 

it  was  out  of  bed — the  greeting  of  that  morning  sun  ;  but 
scarcely  any  prettier  one,  or  kinder,  or  more  pleasant  ;  so 
gentle  without  being  weak,  so  good-tempered  without  look- 
ing void  of  all  temper  at  all. 

Suddenly  the  beauty  of  the  time  and  place  was  broken 
by  sharp  angry  sound.  Bang,  bang,  came  the  roar  of  mus- 
kets fired  from  the  shore  at  the  mouth  of  the  dike,  and 
echoing  up  the  winding  glen.  At  the  first  report  the  girl, 
though  startled,  was  not  greatly  frightened  ;  for  the  sound 
was  common  enough  in  the  week  when  those  most  gallant 
volunteers,  entitled  the  "Yorkshire  Invincibles,"  came 
down  for  their  annual  practice  of  skilled  gunnery  against 
the  French.  Their  habit  was  to  bring  down  a  red  cock, 
and  tether  him  against  a  chalky  cliff,  and  then  vie  with  one 
another  in  shooting  at  him.  The  same  cock  had  tested 
their  skill  for  three  summers,  but  failed  hitherto  to  attest 
it,  preferring  to  return  in  a  hamper  to  his  hens,  with  a 
story  of  moving  adventures. 

Mary  had  watched  those  Invincibles  sometimes  from  a 
respectful  distance,  and  therefore  felt  sure  (when  she  began 
to  think)  that  she  had  not  them  to  thank  for  this  little 
scare.  For  they  always  slept  soundly  in  the  first  watch 
of  the  morning  ;  and  even  supposing  they  had  jumped  up 
with  nightmare,  where  was  the  jubilant  crow  of  the  cock  ? 
For  the  cock,  being  almost  as  invincible  as  they  were,  never 
could  deny  himself  the  glory  of  a  crow  when  the  bullet 
came  into  his  neighborhood.  He  replied  to  every  volley 
with  an  elevated  comb,  and  a  flapping  of  his  wings,  and  a 
clarion  peal,  which  rang  along  the  foreshore,  ere  the  mus- 
ket-roar died  out.  But  before  the  girl  had  time  to  ponder 
what  this  was,  or  wherefore,  round  the  corner  came  some- 
body, running  very  swiftly. 

In  a  moment  Mary  saw  that  this  man  had  been  shot  at, 
and  was  making  for  his  life  away  ;  and  to  give  him  every 
chance,  she  jerked  her  pony  aside,  and  called  and 
beckoned  ;  and  without  a  word  he  flew  to  her.  Words 
were  beyond  him  till  his  breath  should  come  back,  and  he 
seemed  to  have  no  time  to  wait  for  that.  He  had  out- 
stripped the  wind,  and  his  own  wind,  by  his  speed. 

"  Poor  man  !"  cried  Mary  Anerley,  "  what  a  hurry  you 


A   DANE   IN  THE   DIKE.  43 

are  in  !  But  I  suppose  you  cannot  help  it.  Are  they 
shooting  at  you  ?" 

The  runaway  nodded,  for  he  could  not  spare  a  breath, 
but  was  deeply  inhaling  for  another  start,  and  could  not 
even  bow  without  hindrance.  But  to  show  that  he  had 
manners,  he  took  off  his  hat.  Then  he  clapped  it  on  his 
head  and  set  off  again. 

"  Come  back,"  cried  the  maid  ;  "I  can  show  you  a 
place.  I  can  hide  you  from  your  enemies  forever." 

The  young  fellow  stopped.  He  was  come  to  that  pitch 
of  exhaustion  in  which  a  man  scarcely  cares  whether  he  is 
killed  or  dies.  And  his  face  showed  not  a  sign  of  fear. 

"  Look  !  That  little  hole — up  there — by  the  fern  ;  up 
at  once,  and  this  cloth  over  you  !" 

He  snatched  it,  and  was  gone  like  the  darting  lizard,  up 
a  little  puckering  side-issue  of  the  dike,  at  the  very  same 
instant  that  three  broad  figures  and  a  long  one  appeared  at 
the  lip  of  the  mouth.  The  quick-witted  girl  rode  on  to 
meet  them,  to  give  the  poor  fugitive  time  to  get  into  his 
hole,  and  draw  the  brown  skirt  over  him.  The  dazzle  of 
the  sun,  pouring  over  the  crest,  made  the  hollow  a  twink- 
ling obscurity  ;  and  the  cloth  was  just  in  keeping  with  the 
dead  stuff  around.  The  three  broad  men,  with  heavy  fusils 
cocked,  came  up  from  the  sea-mouth  of  the  dike,  steadily 
panting,  and  running  steadily  with  a  long  enduring  stride. 
Behind  them  a  tall  bony  man  with  a  cutlass  was  swinging 
it  high  in  the  air,  and  limping,  and  swearing  with  great 
velocity. 

"  Coast-riders,"  thought  Mary,  "  and  he  a  free-trader  ! 
Four  against  one  is  cowardice." 

"  Halt  !"  cried  the  tall  man,  while  the  rest  were  run- 
ning past  her  ;  "  halt  !  ground  arms  ;  never  scare  young 
ladies."  Then  he  flourished  his  hat,  with  a  grand  bow  to 
Mary.  1 1  Fair  young  Mistress  Anerley,  I  fear  we  spoil  your 
ride.  But  his  majesty's  duty  must  be  done.  Hats  off,  fel- 
lows, at  the  name  of  your  king  !  Mary,  my  dear,  the 
most  daring  villain,  the  devil's  own  son,  has  just  run  up 
here — scarcely  two  minutes — you  must  have  seen  him. 
Wait  a  minute,  tell  no  lies — excuse  me,  I  mean  fibs. 


44  MARY   ASTERLEY. 

Your  father  is  the  right  sort.     He  hates  those  scoundrels. 
In  the  name  of  his  majesty,  which  way  is  he  gone  ?" 

44  Was  it,  oh,  was  it  a  man,  if  you  please?  Captain 
Carroway,  don't  say  so. " 

44  A  man  !  Is  it  likely  that  we  shot  at  a  woman  ?  You 
are  trifling.  It  will  be  the  worse  for  you.  Forgive  me — 
but  we  are  in  such  a  hurry.  Whoa,  whoa,  pony. ' ' 

4  You  always  used  to  be  so  polite,  sir,  that  you  quite 
surprise  me.  And  those  guns  look  so  dreadful  !  My 
father  would  be  quite  astonished  to  see  me  not  even  allowed 
to  go  down  to  the  sea,  but  hurried  back  here,  as  if  the 
French  had  landed  !" 

44  How  can  I  help  it  if  your  pony  runs  away  so  ?"  For 
Mary  all  this  time  had  been  cleverly  contriving  to  increase 
and  exaggerate  her  pony's  fear,  and  so  brought  the  gunners 
for  a  long  way  up  the  dike  without  giving  them  any  time 
to  spy  at  all  about.  She  knew  that  this  was  wicked  from 
a  loyal  point  of  view  :  not  a  bit  the  less  she  did  it. 
44  What  a  troublesome  little  horse  it  is  !"  she  cried.  "  Oh, 
Captain  Carroway,  hold  him  just  a  moment.  I  will  jump 
down,  and  then  you  can  jump  up,  and  ride  after  all  his 
majesty's  enemies." 

4 4  The  Lord  forbid  !  He  slews  all  out  of  gear,  like  a  car- 
ronade  with  rotten  lashings.  If  I  boarded  him,  how  could 
I  get  out  of  his  way  ?  No,  no,  my  dear,  brace  him  up 
sharp,  and  bear  clear." 

44  But  you  wanted  to  know  about  some  enemy,  captain. 
An  enemy  as  bad  as  my  poor  Lord  Keppel  ?" 

44  Mary,  my  dear,  the  very  biggest  villain  !  A  hundred 
golden  guineas  on  his  head  ;  and  half  for  you.  Think  of 
your  father,  my  dear,  and  Sunday  gowns.  And  you  must 
have  a  young  man,  by  and  by,  you  know  ;  such  a  beautiful 
maid  as  you  are.  And  you  might  get  a  leather  purse,  and 
give  it  to  him.  Mary,  on  your  duty  now  ?" 

il  Captain,  you  drive  me  so  ;  what  can  I  say  ?  I  cannot 
bear  the  thought  of  betraying  anybody." 

44  Of  course  not,  Mary  dear  ;  nobody  asks  you.  He 
must  be  half  a  mile  off  by  this  time.  You  could  never  hurt 
him  now  ;  and  you  can  tell  your  father  that  you  have  done 
your  duty  to  the  king. ' ' 


A   DANE   IN   THE    DIKE.  45 

'  '  Well,  Captain  Carroway ,  if  you  are  quite  sure  that  it  is 
too  late  to  catch  him,  I  can  tell  you  all  about  him.  But 
remember  your  word  about  the  fifty  guineas. " 

11  Every  farthing,  every  farthing,  Mary  ;  whatever  my 
wife  may  say  to  it.  Quick  !  quick  !  which  way  did  he 
run,  my  dear  ?" 

i '  He  really  did  not  seem  to  me  to  be  running  at  all  ;  he 
was  too  tired. ' ' 

"  To  be  sure,  to  be  sure,  a  worn-out  fox  !  We  have 
been  two  hours  after  him  ;  he  could  not  run  ;  no  more  can 
we.  But  which  way  did  he  go,  I  mean  ?" 

"  I  will  not  say  anything  for  certain,  sir  ;  even  for  fifty 
guineas.  But  he  may  have  come  up  here — mind,  I  say  not 
that  he  did — and  if  so  he  might  have  set  off  again  for  Sew- 
erby.  Slowly,  very  slowly,  because  of  being  tired.  But 
perhaps  after  all  he  was  not  the  man  you  mean." 

"  Forward,  double  quick  !  We  are  sure  to  have  him  !" 
shouted  the  lieutenant — for  his  true  rank  was  that — flour- 
ishing his  cutlass  again,  and  setting  off  at  a  wonderful  pace, 
considering  his  limp.  "  Five  guineas  every  man  Jack  of 
you.  Thank  you,  young  mistress,  most  heartily  thank  you. 
Dead  or  alive,  five  guineas  !" 

With  gun  and  sword  in  readiness,  they  all  rushed  off  ; 
but  one  of  the  party,  named  John  Cadman,  shook  his  head 
and  looked  back  with  great  mistrust  at  Mary,  having  no  bet- 
ter judgment  of  women  than  this,  that  he  never  could  be- 
lieve even  his  own  wife.  And  he  knew  that  it  was  mainly 
by  the  grace  of  womankind  that  so  much  contraband 
work  was  going  on.  Nevertheless,  it  was  out  of  his  power 
to  act  upon  his  own  low  opinions  now. 

The  maiden,  blushing  deeply  with  the  sense  of  her  deceit, 
was  informed  by  her  guilty  conscience  of  that  nasty  man's 
suspicions,  and  therefore  gave  a  smack  with  her  fern  whip 
to  Lord  Keppel,  impelling  him  to  join,  like  a  loyal  little 
horse,  the  pursuit  of  his  majesty's  enemies.  But  no  sooner 
did  she  see  all  the  men  dispersed  and  scouring  the  distance 
with  trustful  ardor,  than  she  turned  her  pony's  head  toward 
the  sea  again,  and  rode  back  round  the  bend  of  the  hollow. 
What  would  her  mother  say  if  she  lost  the  murrey-skirt, 
which  had  cost  six  shillings  at  Bridlington  fair  ?  And  ten 


46  MARY   ANERLEY. 

times  that  money  might  be  lost  much  better  than  for  her 
father  to  discover  how  she  lost  it.  For  Master  Stephen 
Anerley  was  a  straight-backed  man,  and  took  three  weeks  of 
training  in  the  Land  Defence  Yeomanry,  at  periods  not 
more  than  a  year  apart,  so  that  many  people  called  him 
"  Captain"  now  ;  and  the  loss  of  his  suppleness  at  knee  and 
elbow  had  turned  his  mind  largely  to  politics,  making  him 
stiffly  patriotic,  and  especially  hot  against  all  free-traders 
putting  bad  bargains  to  his  wife,  at  the  cost  of  the  king  and 
his  revenue.  If  the  bargain  were  a  good  one,  that  was  no 
concern  of  his. 

Not  that  Mary,  however,  could  believe,  or  would  even 
have  such  a  bad  mind  as  to  imagine,  that  any  one,  after  be- 
ing helped  by  her,  would  be  mean  enough  to  run  off  with 
her  property.  And  now  she  came  to  think  of  it,  there  was 
something  high  and  noble,  she  might  almost  say  something 
downright  honest,  in  the  face  of  that  poor  persecuted  man. 
And  in  spite  of  all  his  panting,  how  brave  he  must  have 
been,  what  a  runner,  and  how  clever  to  escape  from  all  those 
cowardly  coast-riders  shooting  right  and  left  at  him  !  Such 
a  man  steal  that  paltry  skirt  that  her  mother  made  such  a 
fuss  about  !  She  was  much  more  likely  to  find  it  in  her 
clothes-press  filled  with  golden  guineas. 

Before  she  was  as  certain  as  she  wished  to  be  of  this  (by 
reason  of  shrewd  nativity),  and  while  she  believed  that  the 
fugitive  must  have  seized  such  a  chance  and  made  good  his 
escape  toward  North  Sea  or  Flamborough,  a  quick  shadow 
glanced  across  the  long  shafts  of  the  sun,  and  a  bodily  form 
sped  after  it.  To  the  middle  of  the  dike  leaped  a  young 
man  smiling,  and  forth  from  the  gully  which  had  saved  his 
life.  To  look  at  him,  nobody  ever  could  have  guessed  how 
fast  he  had  fled,  and  how  close  he  had  lain  hid.  For  he 
stood  there  as  clean,  and  spruce,  and  careless,  as  even  a 
sailor  can  be  wished  to  be.  Limber  yet  stalwart,  agile 
though  substantial,  and  as  quick  as  a  dart  while  as  strong 
as  a  pike,  he  seemed  cut  out  by  nature  for  a  true  blue- 
jacket ;  but  condition  had  made  him  a  smuggler,  or,  to  put 
it  more  gently,  a  free-trader.  Britannia,  being  then  at  war 
with  all  the  world,  and  alone  in  the  right  (as  usual),  had 
need  of  such  lads,  and  produced  them  accordingly,  and 


A   DANE   IN  THE   DIKE.  47 

sometimes  one  too  many.  But  Mary  did  not  understand 
these  laws. 

This  made  her  look  at  him  with  great  surprise,  and  almost 
doubt  whether  he  could  be  the  man,  until  she  saw  her  skirt 
neatly  folded  in  his  hand,  and  then  she  said,  '*  How  do 
you  do,  sir  ?" 

The  free-trader  looked  at  her  with  equal  surprise.  He 
had  been  in  such  a  hurry,  and  his  breath  so  short,  and  the 
chance  of  a  fatal  bullet  after  him  so  sharp,  that  his  mind 
had  been  astray  from  any  sense  of  beauty,  and  of  every- 
thing else  except  the  safety  of  the  body.  But  now  he 
looked  at  Mary,  and  his  breath  again  went  from  him. 

u  You  can  run  again  now,  I  am  sure  of  it,"  said  she  ; 
"  and  if  you  would  like  to  do  anything  to  please  me,  run 
as  fast  as  possible. ' ' 

"  What  have  I  to  run  away  from  now  ?"  he  answered  in 
a  deep  sweet  voice  ;  "  I  run  from  enemies,  but  not  from 
friends. '  ' 

"  That  is  very  wise.  But  your  enemies  are  still  almost 
within  call  of  you.  They  will  come  back  worse  than  ever, 
when  they  find  you  are  not  there." 

"  I  am  not  afraid,  fair  lady,  for  I  understand  their  ways. 
I  have  led  them  a  good  many  dances  before  this  ;  though 
it  would  have  been  my  last,  without  your  help.  They  will 
go  on,  all  the  morning,  in  the  wrong  direction,  even  while 
they  know  it.  Carroway  is  the  most  stubborn  of  men. 
He  never  turns  back  ;  and  the  farther  he  goes,  the  better 
his  bad  leg  is.  They  will  scatter  about,  among  the  fields 
and  hedges,  and  call  one  another,  like  partridges.  And 
when  they  cannot  take  another  step,  they  will  come  back  to 
Anerley  for  breakfast." 

"  I  dare  say  they  will  ;  and  we  shall  be  glad  to  see  them. 
My  father  is  a  soldier,  and  his  duty  is  to  nourish  and  com- 
fort the  forces  of  the  king. ' ' 

"  Then  you  are  young  Mistress  Anerley  ?  I  was  sure  of 
it  before.  There  are  no  two  such.  And  you  have  saved 
my  life.  It  is  something  to  owe  it  so  fairly. JV 

The  young  sailor  wanted  to  kiss  Mary's  hand  ;  but  not 
being  used  to  any  gallantry,  she  held  out  her  hand  in  the 
simplest  manner,  to  take  back  her  riding  skirt  ;  and  lie, 


48  MARY   AKERLEY. 

though  longing  in  his  heart  to  keep  it,  for  a  token  or  pre- 
text for  another  meeting,  found  no  excuse  for  doing  so. 
And  yet  he  was  not  without  some  resource. 

For  the  maiden  was  giving  him  a  farewell  smile,  being 
quite  content  with  the  good  she  had  done,  and  the  luck  of 
recovering  her  property  ;  and  that  sense  of  right,  which  in 
those  days  formed  a  part  of  every  good  young  woman,  said 
to  her  plainly  that  she  must  be  off.  And  she  felt  how 
unkind  it  was  to  keep  him  any  longer,  in  a  place  where  the 
muzzle  of  a  gun,  with  a  man  behind  it,  might  appear  at 
any  moment.  But  he,  having  plentiful  breath  again,  was 
at  home  with  himself  to  spend  it. 

"  Fair  young  lady/7  he  began,  for  he  saw  that  Mary 
liked  to  be  called  a  lady,  because  it  was  a  novelty  ;  *'  owing 
more  than  I  ever  can  pay  you  already,  may  I  ask  a  little 
more  ?  Then  it  is,  that  on  your  way  down  to  the  sea,  you 
would  just  pick  up  (if  you  should  chance  to  see  it)  the  fel- 
low-ring to  this,  and  perhaps  you  will  look  at  this  to  know 
it  by.  The  one  that  was  shot  away  flew  against  a  stone 
just  on  the  left  of  the  mouth  of  the  dike,  but  I  durst  not 
stop  to  look  for  it,  and  I  must  not  go  back  that  way  now. 
It  is  more  to  me  than  a  hatful  of  gold,  though  nobody  else 
would  give  a  crown  for  it. ' ' 

"  And  they  really  shot  away  one  of  your  ear-rings  ! 
Careless,  cruel,  wasteful  men  !  What  could  they  have  been 
thinking  of  ?" 

"  They  were  thinking  of  getting  what  is  called  i  blood- 
money.'  One  hundred  pounds  for  Robin  Lyth.  Dead  or 
alive — one  hundred  pounds." 

"  It  makes  me  shiver,  with  the  sun  upon  me.  Of 
course,  they  must  offer  money  for — for  people.  For  people 
who  have  killed  other  people,  and  bad  things — but  to  offer 
a  hundred  pounds  for  a  free-trader,  and  fire  great  guns  at 
him  to  get  it — I  never  should  have  thought  it  of  Captain 
Carroway." 

"  Carroway  only  does  his  duty.  I  like  him  none  the 
worse  for  it.  Carroway  is  a  fool,  of  course.  His  life  has 
been  in  my  bands  fifty  times  ;  but  I  will  never  take  it.  He 
must  be  killed  sooner  or  later,  because  he  rushes  into  every- 
thing. But  never  will  it  be  my  doing." 


A   DANE   IN   THE   DIKE.  49 

"  Then  are  you  the  celebrated  Robin  Lyth — the  new 
Robin  Hood,  as  they  call  him  ?  The  man  who  can  do 
almost  anything  ?" 

"  Mistress  Anerley,  I  am  Robin  Lyth  ;  but  as  you  have 
seen,  I  cannot  do  much.  I  cannot  even  search  for  my 
own  ear-ring. " 

"  I  will  search  for  it,  till  I  find  it.  They  have  shot  at 
you  too  much.  Cowardly,  cowardly  people  !  Captain 
Lyth,  where  shall  I  put  it,  if  I  find  it  ?" 

"  If  you  could  hide  it  for  a  week,  and  then — then  tell 
me  where  to  find  it  in  the  afternoon  toward  four  o'clock,  in 
the  lane  toward  Bempton  Cliffs.  We  are  off  to-night  upon 
important  business.  We  have  been  too  careless  lately, 
from  laughing  at  poor  Carroway. ' ' 

"  You  are  very  careless  now.  You  quite  frighten  me 
almost.  The  coast-riders  might  come  back  at  any  moment. 
And  what  could  you  do  then  ?" 

"  Run  away  gallantly,  as  I  did  before  ;  with  this  little 
difference,  that  I  should  be  fresh,  while  they  are  as  stiff  as 
nut-cracks.  They  have  missed  the  best  chance  they  ever 
had  at  me  ;  it  will  make  their  temper  very  bad.  If  they 
shot  at  me  again,  they  could  do  no  good.  Crooked  mood 
makes  crooked  mode." 

"  You  forget  that  I  should  not  see  such  things.  You 
may  like  very  much  to  be  shot  at  ;  but — but  you  should 
think  of  other  people. ' ' 

"  I  shall  think  of  you  only — I  ,mean  of  your  great  kind- 
ness, and  your  promise  to  keep  my  ring  for  me.  Of  course 
you  will  tell  nobody.  Carroway  will  have  me  like  a  tiger, 
if  you  do.  Farewell,  young  lady,  for  one  week  farewell." 

With  a  wave  of  his  hat  he  was  gone,  before  Mary  had 
time  to  retract  her  promise  ;  and  she  thought  of  her 
mother,  as  she  rode  on  slowly,  to  look  for  the  smuggler's 
trinket. 


50  MARY   AKERLEY. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

CAPTAIN     CARROWAY. 

FAME,  that  light-of-love  trusted  by  so  many,  and  never 
a  wife  till  a  widow — fame,  the  fair  daughter  of  fuss  and 
caprice,  may  yet  take  the  phantom  of  bold  Robin  Lyth  by 
the  right  hand,  and  lead  it  to  a  pedestal  almost  as  lofty  as 
Robin  Hood',s,  or  she  may  let  it  vanish  like  a  bat  across 
Lethe — a  thing  not  bad  enough  for  eminence. 

However,  at  the  date,  and  in  the  part  of  the  world  now 
dealt  with,  this  great  free-trader  enjoyed  the  warm  though 
possibly  brief  embrace  of  fame,  having  no  rival,  and  being 
highly  respected  by  all  who  were  un  warped  by  a  sense  of 
duty.  And  blest  as  he  was  with  a  lively  nature,  he  pro- 
ceeded happily  upon  his  path  in  life,  notwithstanding  a 
certain  ticklish  sense  of  being  shot  at  undesirably.  This 
had  befallen  him  now  so  often,  without  producing  any 
tangible  effect,  that  a  great  many  people,  and  especially  the 
shooters  (convinced  of  the  accuracy  of  their  aim),  went  far 
to  believe  that  he  possessed  some  charm  against  wholesome 
bullet  and  gunpowder.  And  lately  even  a  crooked  sixpence 
dipped  in  holy  water  (which  was  still  to  be  had  in  York- 
shire) confirmed  and  doubled  the  faith  of  all  good  people, 
by  being  declared  upon  oath  to  have  passed  clean  through 
him,  as  was  proved  by  its  being  picked  up  quite  clean. 

This  strong  belief  was  of  great  use  to  him  ;  for,  like 
many  other  beliefs,  it  went  a  very  long  way  to  prove  itself. 
Steady  left-hands  now  grew  shaky  in  the  level  of  the  car- 
bine, and  firm  fore-fingers  trembled  slightly  upon  draught 
of  trigger,  and  the  chief  result  of  a  large  discharge  was  a 
wale  upon  the  marksman's  shoulder.  Robin,  though  so 
clever  and  well-practised  in  the  world,  was  scarcely  old 
enough  yet  to  have  learned  the  advantage  of  misapprehen- 
sion ;  which,  if  well  handled  by  any  man,  helps  him  in  the 
cunning  of  paltry  things,  better  than  a  truer  estimate.  But 
without  going  into  that,  he  was  pleased  with  the  fancy  of 
being  invulnerable  ;  which  not  only  doubled  his  courage, 
but  trebled  the  discipline  of  his  followers,  and  secured  him 


CAPTAIN   CARROWAY.  51 

the  respect  of  all  tradesmen.  However,  the  worst  of  all 
things  is,  that  just  when  they  are  establishing  themselves, 
and  earning  true  faith  by  continuance — out  of  pure  opposi- 
tion the  direct  contrary  arises,  and  begins  to  prove  itself. 
And  to  Captain  Lyth  this  had  just  happened  in  the  shot 
which  carried  off  his  left  ear-ring. 

Not  that  his  body  or  any  fleshly  member  could  be  said 
directly  to  have  parted  with  its  charm  ;  but  that  a  warning 
and  a  diffidence  arose  from  so  near  a  visitation.  All  genu- 
ine sailors  are  blessed  with  strong  faith  ;  as  they  must  be, 
by  nature's  compensation.  Their  bodies  continually  going 
up  and  down  upon  perpetual  fluxion,  they  never  could  live 
if  their  minds  did  the  same,  like  the  minds  of  stationary 
landsmen.  Therefore,  their  minds  are  of  stanch  immo- 
bility, to  restore  the  due  share  of  firm  element.  And  not 
only  that,  but  these  men  have  compressed  (through  genera- 
tions of  circumstance),  from  small  complications,  simplicity. 
Being  out  in  all  weathers,  and  rolling  about  so,  how  can 
they  stand  upon  trifles  ?  Solid  stays,  and  stanchions,  and 
strong  bulwarks  are  their  need,  and  not  a  dance  of  gnats  in 
gossamer  ;  hating  all  fogs,  they  blow  not  up  with  their  own 
breath  misty  mysteries,  and  gazing  mainly  at  the  sky  and 
sea,  believe  purely  in  God  and  the  devil.  In  a  word,  these 
sailors  have  religion. 

Some  of  their  religion  is  not  well  pronounced,  but  de- 
clares itself  in  over-strong  expressions.  However,  it  is  in 
them,  and  at  any  moment  waiting  opportunity  of  action 
— a  shipwreck  or  a  grape-shot  ;  and  the  chaplain  has  good 
hopes  of  them  when  the  doctor  has  given  them  over. 

Now  one  of  their  principal  canons  of  faith,  and  the  one 
best  observed  in  practice,  is  (or  at  any  rate  used  to  be)  that 
a  man  is  bound  to  wear  ear-rings.  For  these,  as  sure  tra- 
dition shows,  and  no  pious  mariner  would  dare  to  doubt, 
act  as  a  whetstone  in  all  weathers  to  the  keen  edge  of  the 
eyes.  Semble — as  the  lawyers  say — that  this  idea  was  born 
of  great  phonetic  facts,  in  the  days  when  a  seaman  knew 
his  duty,  better  than  the  way  to  spell  it  ;  and  when,  if  his 
outlook  were  sharpened  by  a  friendly  wring  from  the  cap- 
tain of  the  watch,  he  never  dreamed  of  a  police-court. 

But  Robin  Lyth  had  never  cared  to  ask  why  he  wore  ear- 


52  MARY   ANEKLEY. 

rings.  His  nature  was  not  meditative.  Enough  for  him 
that  all  the  other  men  of  Flamborough  did  so  ;  and  enough 
for  them  that  their  fathers  had  done  it.  Whether  his  own 
father  had  done  so,  was  more  than  he  could  say,  because 
he  knew  of  no  such  parent  ;  and  of  that  other  necessity, 
a  mother,  he  was  equally  ignorant.  His  first  appearance  at 
Flamborough,  though  it  made  little  stir  at  the  moment  in  a 
place  of  so  many  adventures,  might  still  be  considered  un- 
usual, and  in  some  little  degree  remarkable.  So  that  Mis- 
tress Anerley  was  not  wrong  when  she  pressed  upon  Lieu- 
tenant Carroway  how  unwise  it  might  be  to  shoot  him,  any 
more  than  Carroway  himself  was  wrong  in  turning  in  at 
Anerley  gate  for  breakfast. 

This  he  had  not  done  without  good  cause  of  honest  and 
loyal  necessity.  Free-trading  Robin  had  predicted  well  the 
course  of  his  pursuers.  Hushing  eagerly  up  the  dike,  and 
over  its  brim  with  their  muskets,  that  gallant  force  of  Rev- 
enue-men steadily  scoured  the  neighborhood  ;  and  the 
farther  they  went  the  worse  they  fared.  There  was  not  a 
horse  standing  down  by  a  pool,  with  his  stiff  legs  shut  up 
into  biped  form,  nor  a  cow  staring  blandly  across  an  old 
rail,  nor  a  sheep  with  a  pectoral  cough  behind  a  hedge, 
nor  a  rabbit  making  rustle  at  the  eyebrow  of  his  hole,  nor 
even  a  moot,  that  might  either  be  a  man,  or  hold  a  man 
inside  it — whom  or  which  those  active  fellows  did  not 
circumvent  and  poke  into.  In  none  of  these,  however, 
could  they  find  the  smallest  breach  of  the  strictest  laws  of 
the  revenue  ;  until  at  last,  having  exhausted  their  bodies, 
by  great  zeal  both  of  themselves  and  of  mind,  they  braced 
them  again  to  the  duty  of  going,  as  promptly  as  possible, 
to  breakfast. 

For  a  purpose  of  that  kind  few  better  places  perhaps 
could  be  found  than  this  Anerley  Farm,  though  not  at  the 
best  of  itself  just  now,  because  of  the  denials  of  the  season. 
It  is  a  sad  truth  about  the  hey-day  of  the  year,  such  as 
August  is  in  Yorkshire — where  they  have  no  spring — that 
just  when  a  man  would  like  his  victuals  to  rise  to  the  mark 
of  the  period,  to  be  simple  yet  varied,  exhilarating  yet  sub- 
stantial, the  heat  of  the  summer  day  defrauds  its  increased 
length  for  feeding.  For  instance,  to  cite  a  very  trifling 


CAPTAIN   CARROWAY.  53 

point — at  least  in  some  opinions — August  has  banished  that 
bright  content  and  most  devout  resignation  which  ensue  the 
removal  of  a  petted  pig  from  this  troublous  world  of  grunt. 
The  fat  pig  rolls  in  wallowing  rapture,  defying  his  friends 
to  make  pork  of  him  yet,  and  hugs  with  complacence  un- 
pickleable  hams.  The  partridge  among  the  pillared  wheat, 
tenderly  footing  the  way  for  his  chicks,  and  teaching  little 
balls  of  down  to  hop,  knows  how  sacred  are  their  lives  to 
others  as  well  as  to  himself  ;  and  the  less  paternal  cock- 
pheasant  scratches  the  ridge  of  green-shouldered  potatoes, 
without  fear  of  keeping  them  company  at  table. 

But  though  the  bright  glory  of  the  griddle  remains  in 
suspense  for  the  hoary  mornings  and  hooks  that  carried 
woodcocks  once,  and  hope  to  do  so  yet  again,  are  primed 
with  dust  instead  of  lard,  and  the  frying-pan  hangs  on  the 
cellar  nail  with  a  holiday  gloss  of  raw  mutton-suet — yet  is 
there  still  some  comfort  left,  yet  dappled  brawn,  and  bacon 
streaked,  yet  golden-hearted  eggs,  and  mushrooms  quilted 
with  pink  satin,  spiced  beef  carded  with  pellucid  fat,  buck- 
stone  cake,  and  brown  bread  scented  with  the  ash  of  gorse 
bloom — of  these  and  more  that  pave  the  way  into  the  good- 
will of  mankind,  what  lack  have  fine  farm-houses  ? 

And  then  again  for  the  liquid  duct,  the  softer  and  more 
sensitive,  the  one  that  is  never  out  of  season,  but  perennially 
brisk — here  we  have  advantage  of  the  gentle  time  that  mel- 
lows thirst.  The  long  ride  of  the  summer  sun  makes  men 
who  are  in  feeling  with  him,  and  like  him  go  up  and  down, 
not  forego  the  moral  of  his  labor,  which  is  work  and  rest. 
Work  all  day,  and  light  the  rounded  land  with  fruit  and 
nurture,  and  rest  at  evening,  looking  through  bright  fluid,  as 
the  sun  goes  down. 

But  times  there  are  when  sun  and  man,  by  stress  of  work, 
or  clouds,  or  light,  or  it  may  be  some  Process  of  the  Equi- 
nox, make  draughts  upon  the  untilted  day,  and  solace  them- 
selves in  the  morning.  For  lack  of  dew  the  sun  draws 
lengthy  sucks  of  cloud  quite  early,  and  men  who  have  la- 
bored far  and  dry,  and  scattered  the  rime  of  the  night  with 
dust,  find  themselves  ready  about  8  A.M.  for  the  golden  en- 
couragement of  gentle  ale. 

The  farm-house  had  an  old  porch  of  stone,  with  a  bench 


54  MARY   ANERLEY. 

of  stone  on  either  side,  and  pointed  windows  trying  to  look 
out  under  brows  of  ivy  ;  and  this  porch  led  into  the  long 
low  hall,  where  the  breakfast  was  beginning.  To  say  what 
was  on  the  table  would  be  only  waste  of  time,  because  it 
has  all  been  eaten  so  long  ago  ;  but  the  farmer  was  vexed 
because  there  were  no  shrimps.  Not  that  he  cared  half 
the  clip  of  a  whisker  for  all  the  shrimps  that  ever  bearded 
the  sea,  only  that  he  liked  to  seem  to  love  them,  to  keep 
Mary  at  work  for  him.  The  flower  of  his  flock,  and  of  all 
the  flocks  of  the  world  of  the  universe  to  his  mind,  was  his 
darling  daughter  Mary  ;  the  strength  of  his  love  was  upon 
her,  and  he  liked  to  eat  anything  of  her  cooking. 

His  body  was  too  firm  to  fidget  ;  but  his  mind  was  out 
of  its  usual  comfort,  because  the  pride  of  his  heart,  his 
Mary,  seemed  to  be  hiding  something  from  him.  And  with 
the  justice  to  be  expected  from  far  clearer  minds  than  his, 
being  vexed  by  one,  he  was  ripe  for  the  relief  of  snapping 
at  fifty  others.  Mary,  who  could  read  him,  as  a  sailor 
reads  his  compass,  by  the  corner  of  one  eye,  awaited  with 
good  content  the  usual  result-^-an  outbreak  of  words  upon 
the  indolent  Willie,  whenever  that  young  farmer  should 
come  down  to  breakfast,  then  a  comforting  glance  from 
the  mother  at  her  William,  followed  by  a  plate  kept  hot  for 
him,  and  then  a  fine  shake  of  the  master's  shoulders,  and  a 
stamp  of  departure  for  business.  But  instead  of  that,  what 
came  to  pass  was  this. 

In  the  first  place  a  mighty  bark  of  dogs  arose  ;  as  needs 
must  be,  where  a  man  does  his  duty  toward  the  nobler 
animals  ;  for  sure  it  is  that  the  dogs  will  not  fail  of  their 
part.  Then  an  inferior  noise  of  men,  crying,  "  Good  dog, 
good  dog  !"  and  other  fulsome  flatteries,  in  the  hope  of 
avoiding  any  tooth-mark  on  their  legs  ;  and  after  that  a 
shaking  down  and  settlement  of  sounds,  as  if  feet  were 
brought  into  good  order,  and  stopped.  Then  a  tall  man, 
with  a  body  full  of  corners,  and  a  face  of  grim  temper, 
stood  in  the  doorway. 

"  Well,  well,  captain,  now  !"  cried  Stephen  Anerley, 
getting  up  after  waiting  to  be  spoken  to,  "  the  breath  of 
us  all  is  hard  to  get,  with  doing  of  our  duty,  sir.  Come 


CAPTAIN"   CARROWAY.  55 

ye  in,  and  sit  doon  to  table,  and  his  Majesty's  forces  along 
o'  ye." 

"  Cadman,  Ellis,  and  Dick,  be  damned  !"  the  lieutenant 
shouted  out  to  them  ;  "  you  shall  have  all  the  victuals  you 
want,  by  and  by.  Cross  legs,  and  get  your  winds  up.  Captain 
of  the  coast-defence,  I  am  under  your  orders,  in  your  own 
house."  Carroway  was  starving,  as  only  a  man  with  long 
and  active  jaws  can  starve  ;  and  now  the  appearance  of  the 
farmer's  mouth,  half  full  of  a  kindly  relish,  made  the  emp- 
tiness of  his  own  more  bitter.  But  happen  what  might,  he 
resolved,  as  usual,  to  enforce  strict  discipline,  to  feed  him- 
self first,  and  his  men  in  proper  order. 

"  Walk  in,  gentlemen,  all  walk  in,"  Master  Anerley 
shouted,  as  if  all  men  were  alike,  and  coming  to  the  door 
with  a  hospitable  stride  ;  "  glad  to  see  all  of  ye,  upon  my 
soul  I  am.  Ye've  hit  upon  the  right  time  for  coming  too  ; 
though  there  might  a'  been  more  upon  the  table.  Mary, 
run,  that's  a  dear,  and  fetch  your  grandfather's  big  Sab- 
bath carver.  Them  peaky  little  clams  almost  puts  out  all 
my  shoulder-blades,  and  wunna  bite  through  a  twine  of 
gristle.  Plates  for  all  the  gentlemen,  Winnie  lass  !  Bill, 
go  and  drah  the  black  jarge  full  o'  yell." 

The  farmer  knew  well  enough  that  Willie  was  not  down 
yet  ;  but  this  was  his  manner  of  letting  people  see  that  he 
did  not  approve  of  such  hours. 

"  My  poor  lad  Willie,"  said  the  mistress  of  the  house, 
returning  with  a  courtesy  the  brave  lieutenant's  scrape,  "  I 
fear  he  hath  the  rheum  again,  overheating  of  himself  after 
sun  gate. ' ' 

"  Ay,  ay,  I  forgot.  He  hath  to  heat  himself  in  bed 
again,  with  the  sun  upon  his  coverlid.  Mary,  lof,  how 
many  hours  was  ye  up  ?" 

"  Your  daughter,  sir,"  answered  the  lieutenant,  with  a 
glance  at  the  maiden  over  the  opal  gleam  of  froth,  which  she 
had  headed  up  for  him  ;  4t  your  daughter  has  been  down  the 
dike  before  the  sun  was,  and  doing  of  her  duty  by  the  king 
and  by  his  revenue.  Mistress  Anerley,  your  good  health  ! 
Master  Anerley,  the  like  to  you,  and  your  daughter,  and 
all  of  your  good  household."  Before  they  had  finished 
their  thanks  for  this  honor,  the  quart-pot  was  set  down 


56  MARY   AKERLEY. 

empty.  u  A  very  pretty  brew,  sir,  a  pretty  brew  indeed  ! 
Fall  back,  men  !  Have  heed  of  discipline.  A  chalked  line 
is  what  they  want,  sir.  Mistress  Anerley,  your  good  health 
again  !  The  air  is  now  thirsty  in  the  mornings.  If  those 
fellows  could  be  given  a  bench  against  the  wall — a  bench 
against  the  wall  is  what  they  feel  for  with  their  legs.  It 
comes  so  natural  to  their — yes,  yes,  their  legs,  and  the 
crook  of  their  heels,  ma'am,  from  what  they  were  brought 
up  to  sit  upon.  And  if  you  have  any  beer  brewed  for 
washing-days,  ma'am,  that  is  what  they  like,  and  the  right 
thing  for  their  bellies.  Cadman,  Ellis,  and  Dick  Hacker- 
body,  sit  down,  and  be  thankful." 

"  But  surely,  Captain  Carroway,  you  would  never  be 
happy  to  sit  down  without  them.  Look  at  their  small- 
clothes, the  dust  and  the  dirt  !  And  their  mouths  show 
what  you  might  make  of  them." 

4  Yes,  madam,  yes  ;  the  very  worst  of  them  is  that. 
They  are  always  looking  out,  here,  there,  and  everywhere,  for 
victuals  everlasting.  Let  them  wait  their  proper  time,  and 
then  they  do  it  properly. ' ' 

"  Their  proper  time  is  now,  sir.  Winnie,  fill  their  horns 
up.  Mary,  wait  you  upon  the  officer.  Captain  Carroway, 
I  will  not  have  anybody  starve  in  my  house." 

"  Madam,  you  are  the  lawgiver  in  your  own  house. 
Men  of  the  coast-guard,  fall  to  upon  your  victuals." 

The  lieutenant  frowned  horribly  at  his  men,  as  much  as 
to  say,  "  Take  no  advantage,  but  show  your  best  manners  ;" 
and  they  touched  their  forelocks  with  a  pleasant  grin,  and 
began  to  feed  rapidly  ;  and  verily  their  wives  would  have 
said  that  it  was  high  time  for  them.  Feeding,  as  a  duty,  was 
the  order  of  the  day,  and  discipline  had  no  rank  left.  Good 
things  appeared  and  disappeared,  with  the  speedy  doom  of 
all  excellence.  Mary,  and  Winnie  the  maid,  flitted  in  and 
out,  like  carrier-pigeons. 

"  Now,  when  the  situation  comes  to  this,"  said  the  farm- 
er at  last,  being  heartily  pleased  with  the  style  of  their 
feeding  and  laughing,  "  his  Majesty  hath  made  an  officer  of 
me,  though  void  of  his  own  writing.  Mounted  Fencibles, 
Filey  Briggers,  called  in  the  foreign  parts  l  Brigadiers.' 
Not  that  I  stand  upon  sermonry  about  it,  except  in  the 


WW1VEH 

JT CARROWAY.  57 


matter  of  his  Majesty7s  health,  as  never  is  due  without  ar- 
dent spirits.  But  my  wife  hath  a  right  to  her  own  way,  and 
never  yet  I  knovved  her  go  away  from  it.77 

*'  Not  so,  by  any  means,77  the  mistress  said,  and  said  it 
so  quietly  that  some  believed  her  ;  "  I  never  was  so  much 
for  that.  Captain,  you  are  a  married  man.  But  reason  is 
reason,  in  the  middle  of  us  all,  and  what  else  should  I  say 
to  my  husband  ?  Mary  lass,  Mary  lof,  wherever  is  your 
duty  ?  The  captain  hath  the  best  pot  empty  !77 

With  a  bright  blush  Mary  sprang  up  to  do  her  duty.  In 
those  days  no  girl  was  ashamed  to  blush  ;  and  the  bloodless 
cheek  savored  of  small-pox. 

"  Hold  up  your  head,  ray  lof,77  her  father  said  aloud, 
with  a  smile  of  tidy  pride,  and  a  pat  upon  her  back  ;  "  no 
call  to  look  at  all  ashamed,  my  dear.  To  my  mind,  cap- 
tain, though  I  may  be  wrong,  however,  but  to  my  mind  this 
little  maid  may  stan7  upright  in  the  presence  of  downright 
any  one.77 

"  There  lies  the  very  thing  that  never  should  be  said. 
Captain,  you  have  seven  children,  or  it  may  be  eight  of 
them  justly.  And  the  pride  of  life — Mary,  you  be  off  !77 

Mary  was  glad  to  run  away,  for  she  liked  not  to  be  among 
so  many  men.  But  her  father  would  not  have  her  tri- 
umphed over. 

u  Speak  for  yourself,  good  wife,77  he  said.  "I  know 
what  you  have  got  behind,  as  well  as  rooks  know  plough- 
tail.  Captain,  you  never  heard  me  say  that  the  lass  were 
any  booty,  but  the  very  same  as  God  hath  made  her,  and 
thankful  for  straight  legs  and  eyes.  Howsoever,  there 
misjlit  be  worse-favored  maidens,  without  runnino-  out  of 
the~  Riding.77 

"  You  may  ride  all  the  way  to  the  city  of  London,77  the 
captain  exclaimed,  with  a  clinch  of  his  fist,  "  or  even  to 
Portsmouth,  where  my  wife  came  from,  and  never  find  a 
maid  fit  to  hold  a  candle  for  Mary  to  curl  her  hair  by.77 

The  farmer  was  so  pleased  that  he  whispered  something  ; 

but  Carroway   put  his   hand"  before   his  mouth,  and  said, 

u  Never,  no  never,  in  the  morning  !77     But  in  spite  of  that, 

Master  Anerlcy  felt  in  his  pocket  for  a  key,  and  departed. 

'  Wicked,  wicked,  is  the  word  I  use, 7  7  protested  Mrs. 


58  MARY   ANERLEY. 

Anerlcy,  u  for  all  this  fribble  about  rooks  and  looks,  and 
holding1  of  candles  and  curling  of  hair.  When  I  was 
Mary 'sage — oh,  dear  !  It  may  not  be  so  for  your  daughters, 
captain  ;  but  evil  for  mine  was  the  day  that  invented  those 
proud  swinging-glasses. " 

"  That  you  may  pronounce,  ma'am,  and  I  will  say  Amen. 
Why,  my  eldest  daughter  in  her  tenth  year  now — " 

"Come,  Captain  Carroway,"  broke  in  the  farmer,  re- 
turning softly  with  a  square  old  bottle  ;  "  how  goes  the 
fighting  with  the  Crappos  now  ?  Put  your  legs  up  and  light 
your  pipe,  and  tell  us  all  the  news." 

"  Cadman,  and  Ellis,  and  Dick  Ilackerbody , ' '  the  lieu- 
tenant of  the  coast-guard  shouted,  "  you  have  fed  well. 
Be  off,  men  ;  no  more  neglect  of  duty  !  Place  an  outpost 
at  fork  of  the  Sewerbyroad,  and  strictly  observe  the  enemy  ; 
while  I  hold  a  council  of  war  with  my  brother-officer  Cap- 
tain Anerley.  Half-a-crown  for  you  if  you  catch  the 
rogue,  half-a-crown  each,  and  promotion  of  twopence. 
Attention,  eyes  right,  make  yourselves  scarce  !  WTell,  now 
the  rogues  are  gone,  let  us  make  ourselves  at  home.  Aner- 
ley, your  question  is  a  dry  one.  A  dry  one  ;  but  this  is 
uncommonly  fine  stuff  !  How  the  devil  has  it  slipped 
through  our  fingers  ?  Never  mind  that,  inter  amicos — sir, 
I  was  at  school  at  Shrewsbury — but  as  to  the  war,  sir,  the 
service  is  going  to  the  devil,  for  the  want  of  pure  principle." 

The  farmer  nodded  ;  and  his  looks  declared  that  to 
some  extent  he  felt  it.  He  had  got  the  worst  side  of  some 
bargains  that  week  ;  but  his  wife  had  another  way  of  think- 
ing. 

'  Why,  Captain  Carroway,  whatever  could  be  purer  ? 
When  you  were  at  sea,  had  you  ever  a  man  of  the  down- 
right principles  of  Nelson  ?" 

'*  Nelson  has  done  very  well  in  his  way  ;  but  he  is  a  man 
who  has  risen  too  fast,  as  other  men  rise  too  slowly.  Noth- 
ing in  him  ;  no  substance,  madam  ;  I  knew  him  as  a  young- 
ster, and  I  could  have  tossed  him  on  a  marling-spike.  And 
instead  of  feeding  well,  sir,  he  quite  wore  himself  away. 
To  my  firm  knowledge,  he  would  scarcely  turn  the  scale 
upon  a  good  Frenchman  of  half  of  the  peas.  Every  man 
should  work  his  own  way  up,  unless  his  father  did  it  for 


CAPTAIN   CARROWAY.  59 

him.  In  my  time  we  had  fifty  men  as  good,  and  made  no 
fuss  about  them." 

"  And  you  not  the  last  of  them,  captain,  I  dare  say. 
Though  I  do  love  to  hear  of  the  Lord's  Lord  Nelson,  as  the 
people  call  him.  If  ever  a  man  fought  his  own  way  up — " 

*'  Madam,  I  know  him  and  respect  him  well.  He  would 
walk  up  to  the  devil,  with  a  sword  between  his  teeth,  and  a 
boarder's  pistol  in  each  hand.  Madam,  I  leaped  in  that 
condition,  a  depth  of  six  fathoms  and  a  half  into  the  star- 
board mizzen- chains  of  the  French  line-of-battle  ship  Peace 
and  Thunder.7  " 

"  Oh,  Captain  Carroway,  how  dreadful  !  What  had  you 
to  lay  hold  with  ?" 

"  At  such  times  a  man  must  not  lay  hold.  My  business 
was  to  lay  about  ;  and  I  did  it  to  some  purpose.  This  little 
slash  across  my  eyes  struck  fire,  and  it  does  the  same  now 
by  moonlight." 

One  of  the  last  men  in  the  world  to  brag  was  Lieutenant 
Carroway.  Nothing  but  the  great  thirst  of  this  morning 
and  strong  necessity  of  quenching  it  could  ever  have  led 
him  to  speak  about  himself,  and  remember  his  own  little  ex- 
ploits. But  the  farmer  was  pleased,  and  said,  "  Tell  us 
some  more,  sir." 

"  Mistress  Anerley,"  the  captain  answered,  shutting  up 
the  scar  which  he  was  able  to  expand,  by  means  of  a  muscle 
of  excitement  ;  "  you  know  that  a  man  should  drop  these 
subjects  when  he  has  got  a  large  family.  I  have  been  in 
the  army  and  the  navy,  madam,  and  now  I  am  in  the  reve- 
nue ;  but  my  duty  is  first  to  my  own  house. ' ' 

"  Do  take  care,  sir,  I  beg  you  to  be  careful.  Those 
free-traders  now  are  come  to  such  a  pitch,  that  any  day  or 
night  they  may  shoot  you." 

"  Not  they,  madam.  No,  they  are  not  murderers.  In 
a  hand-to-hand  conflict  they  might  do  it,  as  I  might  do  the 
same  to  them.  This  very  morning  my  men  shot  at  the 
captain  of  all  smugglers,  Robin  Lyth  of  Flamborough,  with 
a  hundred  guineas  upon  his  head.  It  was  no  wish  of  mine, 
but  my  breath  was  short  to  stop  them,  and  a  man  with  a 
family  like  mine  can  never  despise  a  hundred  guineas." 

"  Why,  Sophy,"  said  the  farmer,  thinking  slowly  with 


60  MARY   ANEULEY. 

a  frown,  "  that  must  have  been  the  noise  come  in  at  win- 
dow when  I  were  getting  up  this  morning.  I  said,  *  Why, 
there's  some  poacher-fellow  popping  at  the  conies/  and 
out  I  went  straight  to  the  warren  to  see.  Three  gunshots, 
or  might  a'  been  four.  How  many  men  was  you  shooting 
at?" 

"  The  force  under  my  command  was  in  pursuit  of  one 
notorious  criminal  ;  that  well-known  villain,  Eobin  Lyth." 

u  Captain,  your  duty  is  to  do  your  duty.  But  without 
your  own  word  for  it,  I  never  would  believe  that  you 
brought  four  gun-muzzles  down  upon  one  man." 

*'  The  force  under  my  command  carried  three  guns  only. 
It  was  not  in  their  power  to  shoot  off  four. ' ' 

*'  Captain,  I  never  would  have  done  it  in  your  place.  I 
call  it  no  better  than  unmanly.  Now  go  you  not  for  to 
stir  yourself  amiss.  To  look  thunder  at  me  is  what  I  laugh 
at.  But  many  things  are  done  in  a  hurry,  Captain  Carro- 
way,  and  I  take  it  that  this  was  one  of  them." 

"  As  to  that,  no  !  I  will  not  have  it.  All  was  in 
thorough  good  order.  I  was  never  so  much  as  a  cable's 
length  behind,  though  the  devil,  some  years  ago,  split  my 
heel  up,  like  his  own,  sir." 

"  Captain,  I  see  it,  and  I  ask  your  pardon.  Your  men 
were  out  of  reach  of  hollering.  At  our  time  of  life  the 
wind  dies  quick,  from  want  of  blowing  oftener. " 

"  Stuff  !"  cried  the  captain.  "  Who  was  the  freshest 
that  came  to  your  hospitable  door,  sir  ?  I  will  foot  it  with 
any  man  for  six  leagues,  but  not  for  half  a  mile,  ma'am. 
I  depart  from  nothing.  I  said,  i  Fire  ! '  and  fire  they  did, 
and  they  shall  again.  What  do  volunteers  know  of  the 
service  ?" 

"  Stephen,  you  shall  not  say  a  single  other  word  ;"  Mis- 
tress Anerley  stopped  her  husband  thus  ;  "  these  matters 
are  out  of  your  line  altogether  ;  because  you  have  never 
taken  anybody's  blood.  The  captain  here  is  used  to  it, 
like  all  the  sons  of  Belial,  brought  up  in  the  early  portions 
of  the  Holy  Writ." 

Lieutenant  Carroway's  acquaintance  with  the  Bible  was 
not  more  extensive  than  that  of  other  officers,  and  com- 
prised little  more  than  the  story  of  Joseph,  and  that  of 


ROBIK   COCKSCROFT.  61 

David  and  Goliath  ;  so  he  bowed  to  his  hostess  for  her 
comparison,  while  his  gaunt  and  bristly  countenance  gave 
way  to  a  pleasant  smile.  For  this  officer  of  the  British 
crown  had  a  face  of  strong  features,  and  upon  it  whatever 
he  thought  was  told  as  plainly  as  the  time  of  day  is  told  by 
the  clock  in  the  kitchen.  At  the  same  time,  Master  Aner- 
ley  was  thinking  that  he  might  have  said  more  than  a  host 
should  say,  concerning  a  matter  which,  after  all,  was  no 
particular  concern  of  his  ;  whereas  it  was  his  special  place 
to  be  kind  to  any  visitor.  All  this  he  considered  with  a 
sound,  grave  mind,  and  then  stretched  forth  his  right  hand 
to  the  officer. 

Carroway,  being  a  generous  man,  would  not  be  outdone 
in  apologies.  So  these  two  strengthened  their  mutual 
esteem,  without  any  fighting — which  generally  is  the  quick- 
est way  of  renewing  respect — and  Mistress  Anerley,  having 
been  a  little  frightened,  took  credit  to  herself  for  the  good 
words  she  had  used.  Then  the  farmer,  who  seldom  drank 
cordials,  although  he  liked  to  see  other  people  do  it,  set 
forth  to  see  a  man  who  was  come  about  a  rick,  and  sundry 
other  business.  But  Carroway,  in  spite  of  all  his  boasts, 
was  stiff,  though  he  bravely  denied  that  he  could  be  ;  and 
when  the  good  housewife  insisted  on  his  stopping,  to  listen 
to  something  that  was  much  upon  her  mind,  and  of  great 
importance  to  the  revenue,  he  could  not  help  owning  that 
duty  compelled  him  to  smoke  another  pipe,  and  hearken. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

ROBIN     COCKSCROFT. 

NOTHING  ever  was  allowed  to  stop  Mrs.  Anerley  from 
seeing  to  the  bedrooms.  She  kept  them  airing  for  about 
three  hours,  at  this  time  of  the  sun-stitch — as  she  called  all 
the  doings  of  the  sun  upon  the  sky — and  then  there  was 
pushing,  and  probing,  and  tossing,  and  pulling,  and  thump- 
ing, and  kneading  of  knuckles,  till  the  rib  of  every  feather 
was  aching  ;  and  then  (like  dough  before  the  fire)  every 


62  MAKY   ANE11LEY. 

well-belabored  tick  was  left  to  yeast  itself  awhile.  Winnie, 
the  maid,  was  as  strong  as  a  post,  and  wore  them  all  out 
in  bed-making.  Carroway  heard  the  beginning  of  this 
noise,  but  none  of  it  meddled  at  all  with  his  comfort  ;  he 
lay  back  nicely  in  a  happy  fit  of  chair,  stretched  his  legs 
well  upon  a  bench,  and  nodded,  keeping  slow  time  with 
the  breathings  of  his  pipe,  and  drawing  a  vapory  dream  of 
ease.  He  had  fared  many  stony  miles  afoot  that  morning  ; 
and  feet,  legs,  and  body  were  now  less  young  than  they 
used  to  be  once  upon  a  time.  Looking  up  sleepily,  the 
captain  had  idea  of  a  pretty  young  face  hanging  over  him, 
and  a  soft  voice  saying,  "  It  was  me  who  did  it  all,"  which 
was  very  good  grammar  in  those  days  ;  "  will  you  forgive 
me  ?  But  I  could  not  help  it,  and  you  must  have  been 
sorry  to  shoot  him." 

"  Shoot  everybody  who  attempts  to  land,"  the  weary 
man  ordered  drowsily  ;  lt  Mattie,  once  more,  you  are  not 
to  dust  my  pistols." 

"  I  could  not  be  happy  without  telling  you  the  truth," 
the  soft  voice  continued,  "  because  I  told  you  such  a  dread- 
ful story.  And  now — oh,  here  comes  mother  !" 

"  What  has  come  over  you  this  morning,  child  ?  You 
do  the  most  extraordinary  things,  and  now  you  cannot  let 
the  captain  rest.  Go  round  and  look  for  eggs  this  very 
moment.  You  will  want  to  be  playing  fine  music  next. 
Now,  captain,  I  am  at  your  service,  if  you  please,  unless 
you  feel  too  sleepy." 

"  Mistress  Anerley,  I  never  felt  more  wideawake  in  all 
my  life.  We  of  the  service  must  snatch  a  wink  whenever 
we  can,  but  with  one  eye  open  ;  and  it  is  not  often  that  we 
see  such  charming  sights." 

The  farmer's  wife  having  set  the  beds  to  "  plump,"  had 
stolen  a  look  at  the  glass,  and  put  on  her  second-best  Sun- 
day cap,  in  honor  of  a  real  officer  ;  and  she  looked  very 
nice  indeed,  especially  when  she  received  a  compliment. 
But  she  had  seen  too  much  of  life  to  be  disturbed  thereby. 

"  Ah,  Captain  Carroway,  what  ways  you  have  of  getting 
on  with  simple  people,  while  you  are  laughing  all  the  time 
at  them.  It  comes  of  the  foreign  war  experience,  going  on 
so  long,  that  in  the  end  we  shall  all  be  foreigners.  But 


ROBIN   COCKSCHOFT.  63 

one  place  there  is  that  you  never  can  conquer,  nor  Boney- 
part  himself,  to  my  belief. " 

"  Ah,  you  mean  Flamborough — Flarnborough,  yes  !  It 
is  a  nest  of  cockatrices." 

"  Captain,  it  is  nothing  of  the  sort.  It  is  the  most  hon- 
est place  in  all  the  world.  A  man  may  throw  a  guinea  on 
the  cross-roads  in  the  night,  and  have  it  back  from  Dr. 
Upandown  any  time  within  seven  years.  You  ought  to 
know  by  this  time  what  they  are  ;  hard  as  it  is  to  get 
among  them." 

il  I  only  know  that  they  can  shut  their  mouths  ;  and  the 
devil  himself — I  beg  your  pardon,  madam — Old  Nick  him- 
self never  could  unscrew  them." 

"  You  are  right,  sir.  I  know  their  manner  well.  They 
are  open  as  the  sky  with  one  another,  but  close  as  the  grave 
to  all  the  world  outside  them,  and  most  of  all  to  people  of 
authority  like  you." 

' '  Mistress  Anerley,  you  have  just  hit  it.  Not  a  word 
can  I  get  out  of  them.  The  name  of  the  king — God  bless 
him  ! — seems  to  have  no  weight  among  them." 

"  And  you  cannot  get  at  them,  sir,  by  any  dint  of 
money,  or  even  by  living  in  the  midst  of  them.  The  only 
way  to  do  it  is  by  kin  of  blood,  or  marriage.  And  that  is 
how  I  come  to  know  more  about  them  than  almost  anybody 
else  outside.  My  master  can  scarcely  win  a  word  of  them 
even,  kind  as  he  is,  and  well-spoken  ;  and  neither  might  I, 
though  my  tongue  was  tenfo!4,  if  it  were  not  for  Joan 
Cockscroft.  But  being  Joan's  cousin,  I  am  like  one  of 
themselves." 

"  Cockscroft  !  Cockscroft  !  I  have  heard  that  name. 
Do  they  keep  the  public-house  there  ?" 

The  lieutenant  was  now  on  the  scent  of  duty,  and 
assumed  his  most  knowing  air,  the  sole  effect  of  which  was 
to  put  everybody  upon  guard  against  him.  For  this  was  a 
man  of  no  subtlety,  but  straightforward,  downright,  and 
ready  to  believe  ;  and  his  cleverest  device  was  to  seem  to 
disbelieve. 

"  The  Cockscrofts  keep  no  public-house,"  Mrs.  Anerley 
answered,  with  a  little  flush  of  pride  ;  "  why,  she  was  half- 
iiiece  to  my  own  grandmother,  and  never  was  beer  in  the 


64  MARY  AKERLEY. 

family.  Not  that  it  would  Lave  been  wrong,  if  it  was. 
Captain,  you  arc  thinking  of  Widow  Precious,  licensed  to 
the  Cod  with  the  hook  in  his  gills.  I  should  have  thought, 
sir,  that  you  might  have  known  a  little  more  of  your  neigh- 
bors  having  fallen  below  the  path  of  life  by  reason  of  bad 
bank-tokens.  Banking  came  up  in  her  parts  like  dog-mad- 
ness, as  it  might  have  done  here,  if  our  farmers  were  the 
fools  to  handle  their  cash  with  gloves  on.  And  Joan 
became  robbed  by  the  fault  of  her  trustees,  the  very  best 
bakers  in  Scarborough,  though  Robin  never  married  her  for 
it,  thank  God  !  Still  it  was  very  sad,  and  scarcely  bears 
describing  of,  and  pulled  them  in  the  crook  of  this  world's 
swing  to  a  lower  pitch  than  if  they  had  robbed  the  folk  that 
robbed  and  ruined  them.  And  Robin  so  was  driven  to 
the  fish  again,  which  he  always  had  hankered  after.  It 
must  have  been  before  you  heard  of  this  coast,  cap- 
tain, and  before  the  long  war  was  so  hard  on  us,  that 
everybody  about  these  parts  was  to  double  his  bags  by 
banking,  and  no  man  was  right  to  pocket  his  own  guineas, 
for  fear  of  his  own  wife  feeling  them.  And  bitterly  such 
were  paid  out  for  their  cowardice  and  swindling  of  their 
own  bosoms." 

"  I  have  heard  of  it  often,  arid  it  served  them  right. 
Master  Anerley  knew  where  his  money  was  safe,  ma'am  I" 

"  Neither  Captain  Robin  Cockscroft  nor  his  wife  was  in 
any  way  to  blame,"  answered  Mrs.  Anerley.  "  I  have 
framed  my  mind  to  tell  you  about  them  ;  and  I  will  do  it 
truly,  if  I  am  not  interrupted.  Two  hammers  never  yet 
drove  a  nail  straight,  and  I  make  a  rule  of  silence  when 
my  betters  wish  to  talk." 

"  Madam,  you  remind  me  of  my  own  wife.  She  asks 
me  a  question,  and  she  will  not  let  me  answer." 

"  That  is  the  only  way  I  know  of  getting  on.  Mistress 
Carroway  must  understand  you,  captain.  I  was  at  the 
point  of  telling  you  how  my  cousin  Joan  was  married,  be- 
fore her  money  went,  and  when  she  was  really  good-look- 
ing. I  was  l|uite  a  child,  and  ran  along  the  shore  to  see  it. 
It  must  have  been  in  the  high  summer-time,  with  the 
weather  fit  for  bathing,  and  the  sea  as  smooth  as  a  duck- 
pond.  And  Captain  Robin,  being  well-to-do,  and  estab- 


HOBIK   COCKSCROFT.  65 

lished  with  everything  except  a  wife,  and  pleased  with  the 
pretty  smile  and  quiet  ways  of  Joan — for  he  never  had 
heard  of  her  money,  mind — put  his  oar  into  the  sea  and 
rowed  from  Flam  borough  all  the  way  to  Filey  Brigg,  with 
thirty-five  fishermen  after  him  ;  for  the  Flamborough  peo- 
ple make  a  point  of  seeing  one  another  through  their 
troubles.  And  Robin  was  known  for  the  handsomest  man, 
and  the  uttermost  fisher  of  the  landing,  with  three  boats  of 
his  own,  and  good  birth,  and  long  sea-lines.  And  there  at 
once  they  found  my  cousin  Joan,  with  her  trustees,  come 
overland,  four  wagons  and  a  cart  in  all  of  them  ;  and  after 
they  were  married,  they  burned  sea-weed,  having  no  fear 
in  those  days  of  invasions.  And  a  merry  day  they  made 
of  it,  and  rowed  back  by  the  moonshine.  For  every  one 
liked  and  respected  Captain  Cockscroft  on  account  of  his 
skill  with  the  deep-sea  lines,  and  the  openness  of  his  hands 
when  full — a  wonderful  quiet  and  harmless  man,  as  the 
manner  is  of  all  great  fishermen.  They  had  bacon  for 
breakfast  whenever  they  liked,  and  a  guinea  to  lend  to  any- 
body in  distress. 

4  Then  suddenly  one  morning,  when  his  hair  was  grow- 
ing gray,  and  his  eyes  getting  weary  of  the  night  work, 
so  that  he  said  his  young  Robin  must  grow  big  enough  to 
learn  all  the  secrets  of  the  fishes,  while  his  father  took  a 
spell  in  the  blankets,  suddenly  there  came  to  them  a  shock- 
ing piece  of  news.  All  his  wife's  bit  of  money,  and  his 
own  as  well,  which  he  had  been  putting  by  from  year  to 
year,  was  lost  in  a  new-fangled  bank,  supposed  as  faithful 
as  the  Bible.  Joan  was  very  nearly  crazed  about  it  ;  but 
Captain  Cockscroft  never  heaved  a  sigh,  though  they  say 
it  was  nearly  seven  hundred  guineas.  '  There  are  fish 
enough  still  in  the  sea, '  he  said,  4  and  the  Lord  has  spared 
our  children.  I  will  build  a  new  boat,  and  not  think  of 
feather-beds. 9 

"  Captain  Carroway,  he  did  so,  and  everybody  knows 
what  befell  him.  The  new  boat,  built  with  his  own  hands, 
was  called  the  Mercy  Robin,  from  his  only  son  and  daugh- 
ter, little  Mercy  and  poor  Robin.  The  boat  is  there  as 
bright  as  ever,  scarlet  within  and  white  outside  ;  but  the 
name  is  painted  off,  because  the  little  dears  are  in  their 
5 


66  MAHY    AKEKLEY. 

graves.  Two  nicer  children  were  never  seen,  clever,  and 
sprightly,  and  good  to  learn  ;  they  never  even  took  a  com- 
mon bird's-nest,  I  have  heard,  but  loved  all  the  little  things 
the  Lord  has  made,  as  if  with  a  foreknowledge  of  going 
early  home  to  Him.  Their  father  came  back  very  tired  one 
morning,  and  went  up  the  hill  to  his  breakfast,  and  the 
children  got  into  the  boat  and  pushed  off,  in  imitation  of 
their  daddy.  It  came  on  to  blow,  as  it  does  down  there, 
without  a  single  whiff  of  warning,  and  when  Robin  awoke 
for  his  middle-day  meal,  the  bodies  of  his  little  ones  were 
lying  on  the  table.  And  from  that  very  day  Captain  Cocks- 
croft  and  his  wife  began  to  grow  old  very  quickly.  The 
boat  was  recovered  without  much  damage  ;  and  in  it  he 
sits  by  the  hour  on  dry  land,  whenever  there  is  no  one  on 
the  cliffs  to  see  him,  with  his  hands  upon  his  lap,  .and  his 
eyes  upon  the  place  where  his  dear  little  children  used  to 
sit.  Because  he  has  always  taken  whatever  fell  upon  him 
gently  ;  and  of  course  that  makes  it  ever  so  much  worse 
when  he  dwells  upon  the  things  that  come  inside  of 
him." 

"  Madam,  you  make  me  feel  quite  sorry  for  him,"  the 
lieutenant  exclaimed,  as  she  began  to  cry.  "  If  even  one 
of  my  little  ones  was  drowned,  I  declare  to  you  I  cannot 
tell  what  I  should  be  like.  And  to  lose  them  all  at  once, 
and  as  his  own  wife  perhaps  would  say,  because  he  was 
thinking  of  his  breakfast  !  And  when  he  had  been  robbed, 
and  the  world  all  gone  against  him  !  Madam,  it  is  a  long 
time,  thank  God,  since  I  heard  so  sad  a  tale.'7 

"  Now  you  would  not,  captain,  1  am  sure  you  would 
not,"  said  Mistress  Anerley,  getting  up  a  smile,  yet  fresh- 
ening his  perception  of  a  tear  as  well  ;  "  you  would  never 
have  the  heart  to  destroy  that  poor  old  couple,  by  striking 
the  last  prop  from  under  them.  By  the  will  of  the  Lord, 
they  are  broken  down  enough.  They  are  quietly  hobbling 
to  their  graves,  and  would  you  be  the  man  to  corne  and 
knock  them  on  their  heads  ?" 

"  Mistress  Anerley,  have  you  ever  heard  that  I  am  a 
brute  and  inhuman  ?  Madam,  I  have  no  less  than  seven 
children,  and  I  hope  to  have  fourteen." 

"  I  hope  with  all  my  heart  you  may.     And  you  will 


ROBIH   COCKSCROFT.  67 

deserve  them  all,  for  promising  so  very  kindly  not  to  shoot 
poor  Robin  Lyth." 

"  Robin  Lyth  !  I  never  spoke  of  him,  madam.  He  is 
outlawed,  condemned,  with  a  fine  reward  upon  him.  We 
shot  at  him  to-day,  we  shall  shoot  at  him  again  ;  and  be- 
fore very  long  we  must  hit  him.  Ma'am,  it  is  my  duty  to 
the  king,  the  constitution,  the  service  I  belong  to,  and  the 
babes  I  have  begotten." 

"  Blood-money  poisons  all  innocent  mouths,  sir,  and 
breaks  out  for  generations.  And  for  it  you  will  have  to 
take  three  lives — Robin's,  the  captain's,  and  my  dear  old 
cousin  Joan's. " 

"  Mistress  Anerley,  you  deprive  me  of  all  satisfaction. 
It  is  just  my  luck,  when  my  duty  was  so  plain,  and  would 
pay  so  well  for  doing  of." 

u  Listen  now,  captain.  It  is  my  opinion,  and  I  am 
generally  borne  out  by  the  end,  that  instead  of  a  hundred 
pounds  for  killing  Robin  Lyth,  you  may  get  a  thousand  for 
preserving  him  alive.  Do  you  know  how  he  came  upon 
this  coast,  and  how  he  has  won  his  extraordinary  name  2" 

"  I  have  certainly  heard  rumors  ;  scarcely  any  two  alike. 
But  I  took  no  heed  of  them.  My  duty  was  to  catch  him  ; 
and  it  mattered  not  a  straw  to  me  who  or  what  he  was. 
But  now  I  must  really  beg  to  know  all  about  him,  and  what 
makes  you  think  such  things  of  him.  Why  should  that 
excellent  old  couple  hang  upon  him  ?  and  what  can  make 
him  worth  such  a  quantity  of  money  ?  Honestly,  of 
course,  I  mean  ;  honestly  worth  it,  ma'am,  without  any 
cheating  of  his  Majesty. ' ' 

"  Captain  Carroway,"  his  hostess  said,  not  without  a  lit- 
tle blush,  as  she  thought  of  the  king,  and  his  revenue  ; 
"  cheating  of  his  Majesty  is  a  thing  we  leave  for  others. 
But  if  you  wish  to  hear  the  story  of  that  young  man,  so  far 
as  known,  which  is  not  so  even  in  Flamborough,  you  must 
please  to  come  on  Sunday,  sir  ;  for  Sunday  is  the  only  day 
that  I  can  spare  for  clacking,  as  the  common  people  say. 
I  must  be  off  now  ;  I  have  fifty  things  to  see  to.  And  on 
Sunday  my  master  has  his  best  things  on,  and  loves  no 
better  than  to  sit  with  his  legs  up,  and  a  long  clay  pipe 
lying  on  biin  down  below  his  waist  (or  to  speak  more  cor- 


68  MARY   AKEELEY. 

rectly,  where  it  used  to  be,  as  he  might  indeed  almost  say 
the  very  same  of  me),  and  then  not  to  speak  a  word,  but 
hear  other  folk  tell  stories,  that  might  not  have  made  such 
a  dinner  as  himself.  And  as  for  dinner,  sir,  if  you  will  do 
the  honor  to  dine  with  them  that  are  no  more  than  in  the 
volunteers,  a  saddle  of  good  mutton  fit  for  the  body-guards 
to  ride  upon,  the  men  with  the  skins  around  them  all  turned 
up,  will  be  ready  just  at  one  o'clock,  if  the  parson  lets  us 
out." 

u  My  dear  madam,  I  shall  scarcely  care  to  look  at  any 
slice  of  victuals  until  one  o'clock  on  Sunday,  by  reason  of 
looking  forward. ' ' 

After  all,  this  was  not  such  a  gross  exaggeration,  Anerley 
Farm  being  famous  for  its  cheer  ;  whereas  the  poor  lieu- 
tenant, at  the  best  of  times,  had  as  much  as  he  could  do  to 
make  both  ends  meet  ;  and  his  wife,  though  a  wonderful 
manager,  could  give  him  no  better  than  coarse  bread,  and 
almost  coarser  meat. 

44  And,  sir,  if  your  good  lady  would  oblige  us  also — " 

11  No,  madam,  no  !"  He  cried  with  vigorous  decision, 
having  found  many  festive  occasions  spoiled  by  excess  of 
loving  vigilance  ;  i  4  we  thank  you  most  truly  ;  but  I  must 
say  4  no. '  She  would  jump  at  the  chance  ;  but  a  husband 
must  consider.  You  may  have  heard  it  mentioned  that  the 
Lord  is  now  considering  about  the  production  of  an  eighth 
little  Carroway." 

"  Captain,  I  have  not,  or  I  should  not  so  have  spoken. 
But  with  all  my  heart  I  wish  you  joy." 

li  I  have  pleasure,  I  assure  you,  in  the  prospect,  Mistress 
Anerley.  My  friends  make  wry  faces  ;  but  I  blow  them 
away.  l  Tush, '  I  say,  *  Tush,  sir  ;  at  the  rate  we  now  are 
fighting,  and  exhausting  all  British  material,  there  cannot 
be  too  many,  sir,  of  mettle  such  as  mine  ! '  What  do  you 
say  to  that,  madam  ?" 

"  Sir,  I  believe  it  is  the  Lord's  own  truth.  And  true  it 
is  also  that  our  country  should  do  more  to  support  the  brave 
hearts  that  fight  for  it." 

Mrs.  Anerley  sighed,  for  she  thought  of  her  younger 
son,  by  his  own  perversity  launched  into  the  thankless  peril 
of  fighting  England's  battles.  His  death  at  any  time  might 


RQBIH   COCKSCROFT.  69 

come  home,  if  any  kind  person  should  take  the  trouble  even 
to  send  news  of  it  ;  or  he  might  lie  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea  unknown,  even  while  they  were  talking. 

But  Carroway  buttoned  up  his  coat  and  marched,  after  a 
pleasant  and  kind  farewell.  In  the  course  of  hard  service, 
he  had  seen  much  grief,  and  suffered  plenty  of  bitterness, 
and  he  knew  that  it  is  not  the  part  of  a  man  to  multiply 
any  of  his  troubles  bat  children.  He  went  about  his  work, 
and  he  thought  of  all  his  comforts,  which  need  not  have 
taken  very  long  to  count,  but  he  added  to  their  score  by 
not  counting  them,  and  by  the  self -same  process  diminished 
that  of  troubles.  And  thus,  upon  the  whole,  he  deserved  his 
Sunday  dinner,  and  the  tale  of  his  hostess  after  it,  not  a 
word  of  which  Mary  was  allowed  to  hear,  for  some  subtle 
reason  of  her  mother's.  But  the  farmer  heard  it  all,  and 
kept  interrupting  so,  when  his  noddings  and  the  joggings 
of  his  pipe  allowed,  or  perhaps  one  should  say  compelled 
him,  that  merely  for  the  courtesy  of  saving  common  time, 
it  is  better  now  to  set  it  down  without  them.  Moreover, 
there  are  many  things  well  worthy  of  production,  which  she 
did  not  produce,  for  reasons  which  are  now  no  hindrance. 
And  the  foremost  of  those  reasons  is,  that  the  lady  did  not 
know  the  things  ;  the  second,  that  she  could  not  tell  them 
clearly  as  a  man  might  ;  and  the  third  and  best  of  all,  that 
if  she  could,  she  would  not  do  so.  In  which  she  certainly 
was  quite  right  ;  for  it  would  have  become  her  very  badly, 
as  the  cousin  of  Joan  Cockscroft  (half  removed,  and  upon 
the  mother's  side),  and  therefore  kindly  received  at  Flam- 
borough,  and  admitted  into  the  inner  circle,  and  allowed  to 
buy  fish  at  wholesale  prices,  if  she  had  turned  round  upon 
all  these  benefits,  and  described  all  the  holes  to  be  found  in 
the  place,  for  the  teaching  of  a  revenue  officer. 

Still,  it  must  be  clearly  understood  that  the  nature  of  the 
people  is  fishing.  They  never  were  known  to  encourage 
free-trading,  but  did  their  very  utmost  to  protect  them- 
selves ;  and  if  they  had  produced  the  very  noblest  free- 
trader, born  before  the  time  of  Mr.  Cobden,  neither  the 
credit  nor  the  blame  was  theirs. 


70  MARY 


CHAPTER  X. 

ROBIN    LYTH. 

HALF  a  league  to  the  north  of  bold  Flamborough  Head 
the  billows  have  carved  for  themselves  a  little  cove  among 
cliffs  which  are  rugged,  but  not  very  high.  This  opening 
is  something  like  the  grain-shoot  of  a  mill,  or  a  screen  for 
riddling  gravel,  so  steep  is  the  pitch  of  the  ground,  and  so 
narrow  the  shingly  ledge  at  the  bottom.  And  truly  in  bad 
weather  and  at  high  tides  there  is  no  shingle  ledge  at  all, 
but  the  crest  of  the  wave  volleys  up  the  incline,  and  the  surf 
rushes  on  to  the  top  of  it.  For  the  cove,  though  sheltered 
from  other  quarters,  receives  the  full  brunt  of  north-easterly 
gales,  and  offers  no  safe  anchorage.  But  the  hardy  fisher- 
men make  the  most  of  its  scant  convenience,  and  gratefully 
call  it  "  North  Landing  ;"  albeit  both  wind  and  tide  must 
be  in  good-humor,  or  the  only  thing  sure  of  any  landing  is 
the  sea.  The  long  desolation  of  the  sea  rolls  in  with  a 
sound  of  melancholy,  the  gray  fog  droops  its  fold  of  drizzle 
in  the  leaden-tinted  troughs,  the  pent  cliffs  overhang  the 
flapping  of  the  sail,  and  a  few  yards  of  pebble  and  of  weed 
are  all  that  a  boat  may  come  home  upon  harmlessly.  Yet 
here  in  the  old  time  landed  men  who  carved  the  shape  of 
England  ;  and  here,  even  in  these  lesser  days,  are  landed 
uncommonly  fine  cod. 

The  difficulties  of  the  feat  are  these  —  to  get  ashore 
soundly,  and  then  to  make  it  good  ;  and  after  that  to 
clinch  the  exploit  by  getting  on  land,  which  is  yet  a  harder 
step.  Because  the  steep  of  the  ground,  like  a  staircase 
void  of  stairs,  stands  facing  you,  and  the  cliff  upon  either 
side  juts  up  close,  to  forbid  any  flanking  movement,  and 
the  scanty  scarp  denies  fair  start  for  a  rush  at  the  power  of 
the  hill-front.  Yet  here  must  the  heavy  boats  beach  them- 
selves, and  wallow  and  yaw  in  the  shingly  roar,  while  their 
cargo  and  crew  get  out  of  them,  their  gunwales  swinging 
from  side  to  side,  in  the  manner  of  a  porpoise  rolling,  and 
their  stein  and  stern  going  up  and  down,  like  a  pair  of  lads 
at  see-saw. 


ROBIK   LYTII.  71 

But  after  these  heavy  boats  have  endured  all  that,  they 
have  not  found  their  rest  yet,  without  a  crowning  effort. 
Up  that  gravelly  and  gliddery  ascent,  which  changes  every 
groove  and  run  at  every  sudden  shower,  but  never  grows 
any  the  softer,  up  that  the  heavy  boats  must  make  clamber 
somehow,  or  not  a  single  timber  of  their  precious  frames  is 
safe.  A  big  rope  from  the  capstan  at  the  summit  is  made 
fast,  as  soon  as  the  tails  of  the  jackasses  (laden  with  three 
cwt.  of  fish  apiece)  have  wagged  their  last  flick  at  the  brow 
of  the  steep  ;  and  then  with  "  yo-heave-ho"  above  and  be- 
low, through  the  cliffs  echoing  over  the  dull  sea,  the  groan- 
ing and  grinding  of  the  stubborn  tug  begin.  Each  boat 
has  her  own  special  course  to  travel  up,  and  her  own  special 
berth  of  safety,  and  she  knows  every  jag  that  will  gore  her 
on  the  road,  and  every  flint  from  which  she  will  strike  fire. 
By  dint  of  sheer  sturdiness  of  arms,  legs,  and  lungs,  keep- 
ing  true  time  with  the  pant  and  the  shout,  steadily  goes  it 
with  hoist  and  haul,  and  cheerily  undulates  the  melody  of 
call,  that  rallies  them  all  with  a  strong  will  together.  Until 
the  steep  bluff  and  the  burden  of  the  bulk  by  masculine 
labor  are  conquered,  and  a  long  row  of  powerful  pinnaces 
displayed,  as  a  mounted  battery,  against  the  fishful  sea. 
With  a  view  to  this  clambering  ruggedness  of  life,  all  of  these 
boats  receive  from  their  cradle  a  certain  limber  rake  and  ac- 
commodating curve,  instead  of  a  straight  pertinacity  of  keel, 
that  so  they  may  ride  over  all  the  scandals  of  this  arduous 
world.  And  happen  what  may  to  them,  when  they  are  at 
home,  and  gallantly  balanced  on  the  brow-line  of  the  steep, 
they  make  a  bright  show  upon  the  dreariness  of  coastland, 
hanging  as  they  do  above  the  gullet  of  the  deep.  Painted 
outside  with  the  brightest  of  scarlet,  and  inside  with  the 
purest  white,  at  a  little  way  off  they  resemble  gay  butter- 
flies, preening  their  wings  for  a  flight  into  the  depth. 

Here  it  must  have  been,  and  in  the  middle  of  all  these, 
that  the  very  famous  Robin  Lyth — prophetically  treating 
him,  but  free  as  yet  of  fame  or  name,  and  simply  unable 
to  tell  himself — shone  in  the  doubt  of  the  early  daylight 
(as  a  tidy-sized  cod,  if  forgotten,  might  have  shone)  upon 
the  morning  of  St.  Swithin,  A.D.  1782. 

The  day  and  the  date  were  remembered  long  by  all  the 


72  MARY  A^"ERLEY. 

good  people  of  Flamborough,  from  the  coming  of  the  turn 
of  a  long  bad  luck  and  a  bitter  time  of  starving.  For  the 
weather  of  the  summer  had  been  worse  than  usual — which 
is  no  little  thing  to  say — and  the  fish  had  expressed  their 
opinion  of  it  by  the  eloquent  silence  of  absence.  Therefore 
as  the  whole  place  lives  on  fish,  whether  in  the  fishy  or  the 
fiscal  form,  goodly  apparel  was  becoming  very  rare,  even 
upon  high  Sundays  ;  and  stomachs,  that  might  have  looked 
well  beneath  it,  sank  into  unobtrusive  grief.  But  it  is  a 
long  lane  that  has  no  turning  ;  and  turns  are  the  essence  of 
one  very  vital  part. 

Suddenly  over  the  village  had  flown  the  news  of  a  noble 
arrival  of  fish.  From  the  cross-roads  and  the  public-house, 
and  the  licensed  head- quarters  of  pepper  and  snuff,  and  the 
loop-hole  where  a  sheep  had  been  known  to  hang  in  times 
of  better  trade,  but  never  could  dream  of  hanging  now  ; 
also  from  the  window  of  the  man  who  had  had  a  hundred 
heads  (superior  to  his  own)  shaken  at  him,  because  he  set 
up  for  making  breeches,  in  opposition  to  the  women,  and 
showed  a  few  patterns  of  what  he  could  do,  if  any  man  of 
legs  would  trade  with  him — from  all  these  head-centres  of 
intelligence,  and  others  not  so  prominent  but  equally  potent, 
into  the  very  smallest  hole  it  went  (like  the  thrill  in  a  trou- 
blesome tooth)  that  here  was  a  chance  come  of  feeding,  a 
chance  at  last  of  feeding.  For  the  man  on  the  cliff,  the 
despairing  watchman,  weary  of  fastening  his  eyes  upon  the 
sea,  through  constant  fog  and  drizzle,  at  length  had  discov- 
ered the  well-known  flicker,  the  glassy  flaw,  and  the  hover- 
ing of  gulls,  and  had  run  along  Weighing  Lane  so  fast,  to 
tell  his  good  news  in  the  village,  that  down  he  fell  and 
broke  his  leg,  exactly  opposite  the  tailor's  shop.  And  this 
was  on  St.  S within 's  eve. 

There  was  nothing  to  be  done  that  night  of  course,  for 
mackerel  must  be  delicately  worked  ;  but  long  before  the 
sun  arose,  all  Flamborough,  able  to  put  leg  in  front  of  leg, 
and  some  who  could  not  yet  do  that,  gathered  together 
where  the  landhold  was,  above  the  incline  for  the  launching 
of  the  boats.  Here  was  a  medley,  not  of  fisher-folk  alone, 
and  all  their  bodily  belongings,  but  also  of  the  thousand 
things  that  have  no  soul,  and  get  kicked  about  and  sworn  at 


LYTH.  73 

much,  because  they  cannot  answer.  Hollers,  buoys,  nets, 
kegs,  swabs,  fenders,  blocks,  buckets,  kedges,  corks, 
buckie-pots,  oars,  poppies,  tillers,  sprits,  gaffs,  and  every 
kind  of  gear  (more  than  Theocritus  himself  could  tell)  lay 
about,  and  rolled  about,  and  upset  their  own  masters,  here 
and  there  and  everywhere,  upon  this  half -acre  of  slip  and 
stumble,  at  the  top  of  the  boat-channel  down  to  the  sea, 
and  in  the  faint  rivalry  of  three  vague  lights,  all  making 
darkness  visible. 

For  very  ancient  lanterns,  with  a  gentle  horny  glimmer, 
and  loop-holes  of  large  exaggeration  at  the  top,  were  cast- 
ing upon  anything  quite  within  their  reach  a  general  idea  of 
the  crinkled  tin  that  framed  them,  and  a  shuffle  of  incon- 
stant shadows,  but  refused  to  shed  any  light  on  friend  or 
stranger,  or  clear  up  suspicions  more  than  three  yards  off. 
In  rivalry  with  these  appeared  the  pale  disk  of  the  moon, 
just  setting  over  the  western  highlands,  and  "drawing 
straws"  through  summer  haze  ;  while  away  in  the  north- 
east over  the  sea,  a  slender  irregular  wisp  of  gray,  so  weak 
that  it  seemed  as  if  it  were  being  blown  away,  betokened 
the  intention  of  the  sun  to  restore  clear  ideas  of  number  and 
of  figure  by  and  by.  But  little  did  anybody  heed  such 
things  ;  every  one  ran  against  everybody  else,  and  all  was 
eagerness,  haste,  and  bustle  for  the  first  great  launch  of  the 
Flamborough  boats,  all  of  which  must  be  taken  in  order. 

But  when  they  laid  hold  of  the  boat  No.  7,  which  used 
to  be  the  Mercy  Robin,  and  were  jerking  the  timber 
shores  out,  one  of  the  men  stooping  under  her  stern  beheld 
something  white  and  gleaming.  He  put  his  hand  down  to 
it  ;  and  lo,  it  was  a  child,  in  imminent  peril  of  a  deadly 
crush,  as  the  boat  came  heeling  over.  "  Hold  hard  !" 
cried  the  man,  not  in  time  with  his  voice,  but  in  time  with 
his  sturdy  shoulder,  to  delay  the  descent  of  the  counter. 
Then  he  stooped  underneath,  while  they  steadied  the  boat, 
and  drew  forth  a  child  in  a  white  linen  dress,  heartily  asleep 
and  happy. 

There  was  no  time  to  think  of  any  children  now,  even  of 
a  man's  own  fine  breed,  and  the  boat  was  beginning  much 
to  chafe  upon  the  rope,  and  thirty  or  forty  fine  fellows 
were  all  waiting,  loath  to  hurry  Captain  Robin  (because  of  the 


74  MARY   ANERLEY. 

many  things  he  had  dearly  lost),  yet  straining  upon  their 
own  hearts,  to  stand  still.  And  the  captain  could  not  find 
his  wife,  who  had  slipped  aside  of  the  noisy  scene,  to  have 
her  own  little  cry,  because  of  the  dance  her  children  would 
have  made,  if  they  had  lived  to  see  it. 

There  were  plenty  of  other  women  running  all  about  to 
help,  and  to  talk,  and  to  give  the  best  advice  to  their  hus- 
bands and  to  one  another  ;  but  most  of  them  naturally  had 
their  own  babies,  and  if  words  came  to  action,  quite  enough 
to  do  to  nurse  them.  On  this  account,  Cockscroft  could  do 
no  better,  bound  as  he  was  to  rash  forth  upon  the  sea,  than 
lay  the  child  gently  aside  of  the  stir,  and  cover  him  with  an 
old  sail,  and  leave  word  with  an  ancient  woman  for  his  wife 
when  found.  The  little  boy  slept  on  calmly  still,  in  spite 
of  all  the  din  and  uproar,  the  song  and  the  shout,  the 
tramp  of  heavy  feet,  the  creaking  of  capstans,  and  the 
thump  of  bulky  oars,  and  the  crash  of  ponderous  rollers. 
Away  went  these  upon  their  errand  to  the  sea,  and  then 
came  back  the  grating  roar  and  plashy  jerks  of  launching, 
the  plunging,  and  the  gurgling,  and  the  quiet  murmur  of 
cleft  waves. 

That  child  slept  on,  in  the  warm  good  luck  of  having  no 
boat-keel  launched  upon  him,  nor  even  a  human  heel  of 
bulk  as  likely  to  prove  fatal.  And  the  ancient  woman  fell 
asleep  beside  him  ;  because  at  her  time  of  life  it  was  unjust 
that  she  should  be  astir  so  early.  And  it  happened  that 
Mistress  Cockscroft  followed  her  troubled  husband  down  the 
steep,  having  something  in  her  pocket  for  him,  which  she 
failed  to  fetch  to  hand.  So  everybody  went  about  its  own 
business  (according  to  the  laws  of  nature),  and  the  old 
woman  slept  by  the  side  of  the  child,  without  giving  him  a 
corner  of  her  scarlet  shawl. 

But  when  the  day  was  broad  and  brave,  and  the  spirit  of 
the  air  was  vigorous,  and  every  cliff  had  a  color  of  its  own, 
and  a  character  to  come  out  with  ;  and  beautiful  boats, 
upon  a  shining  sea,  flashed  their  oars,  and  went  up  waves, 
which  clearly  were  the  stairs  of  heaven  ;  and  never  a 
woman,  come  to  watch  her  husband,  could  be  sure  how  far 
he  had  carried  his  obedience  in  the  matter  of  keeping  his 
hat  and  coat  on  ;  neither  could  anybody  say  what  next 


ROBIK   LYTH.  75 

those  very  clever  fishermen  might  be  after — nobody  having 
a  spy-glass — but  only  this  being  understood  all  round,  that 
hunger  and  salt  were  the  victuals  for  the  day,  and  the  chil- 
dren must  chew  the  mouse-trap  baits,  until  their  dads  came 
home  again  ;  yet  in  spite  of  all  this,  with  lightsome  hearts 
(so  hope  outstrips  the  sun,  and  soars  with  him  behind  her) 
and  a  strong  will,  up  the  hill  they  went,  to  do  without  much 
breakfast,  but  prepare  for  a  glorious  supper.  For  mackerel 
are  good  fish  that  do  not  strive  to  live  forever,  but  seem 
glad  to  support  the  human  race. 

Flamburians  speak  a  rich  burr  of  their  own,  broadly  and 
handsomely  distinct  from  that  of  outer  Yorkshire.  The 
same  sagacious  contempt  for  all  hot  haste  and  hurry  (which 
people  of  impatient  fibre  are  too  apt  to  call  "  a  drawl") 
may  here  be  found,  as  in  other  Yorkshire,  guiding  and  re- 
tarding well  that  headlong  instrument  the  tongue.  Yet 
even  here  there  is  advantage  on  the  side  of  Flamborough — 
a  longer  resonance,  a  larger  breadth,  a  deeper  power  of  mel- 
ancholy, and  a  stronger  turn  up  of  the  tail  of  discourse,  by 
some  called  the  end  of  a  sentence.  Over  and  above  all 
these,  there  dwell  in  li  Little  Denmark"  many  words,  for- 
eign to  the  real  Yorkshireman.  But  alas  !  these  merits  of 
their  speech  cannot  be  embodied  in  print,  without  sad  trou- 
ble, and  result  (if  successful)  still  more  saddening.  There- 
fore it  is  proposed  to  let  them  speak  in  our  inferior  tongue, 
and  to  try  to  make  them  be  not  so  very  long  about  it.  For 
when  they  are  left  to  themselves  entirely,  they  have  so 
much  solid  matter  to  express,  and  they  ripen  it  in  their 
minds  and  throats  with  a  process  so  deliberate,  that  stran- 
gers might  condemn  them  briefly,  and  be  off  without  hear- 
ing half  of  it.  Whenever  this  happens  to  a  Flamborough 
man,  he  finishes  what  he  proposed  to  say,  and  then  says  it 
all  over  again  to  the  wind. 

When  the  "  lavings"  of  the  village  (as  the  weaker  part, 
unfit  for  sea  and  left  behind,  were  politely  called,  being  very 
old  men,  women,  and  small  children),  full  of  conversation, 
came,  upon  their  way  back  from  the  tide,  to  the  gravel 
brow  now  bare  of  boats,  they  could  not  Lelp  discovering 
there  the  poor  old  woman  that  fell  asleep,  because  she 
ought  to  have  been  in  bed,  and  by  her  side  a  little  boy, 


76  MARY  ANERLEY. 

who  seemed  to  have  no  bed  at  all.  The  child  lay  above  her 
in  a  tump  of  stubbly  grass,  where  Eobin  Cockscroft  had 
laid  him  ;  he  had  tossed  the  old  sail  off,  perhaps  in  a 
dream,  and  he  threatened  to  roll  down  upon  the  Granny. 
The  contrast  between  his  young,  beautiful  face,  white 
raiment,  and  readiness  to  roll,  and  the  ancient  woman's 
weary  age  (which  it  would  be  ungracious  to  describe),  and 
scarlet  shawl  which  she  could  not  spare,  and  satisfaction  to 
lie  still — as  the  best  thing  left  her  now  to  do — this  differ- 
ence between  them  was  enough  to  take  anybody's  notice,  in 
the  well-established  sun. 

"  Nanny  Pegler,  get  oop  wi'  ye  !"  cried  a  woman  even 
older,  but  of  tougher  constitution.  "  Shame  on  ye  to  lig 
aboot  so.  Be  ye  browt  to  bed  this  toime  o'  loife  ?" 

"  A  wonderful  foine  babby  for  sich  an  owd  moother  I" 
another  proceeded  with  the  elegant  joke  ;  "  and  foine 
swaddles  too,  wi'  solid  gowd  upon  'em  !" 

"  Stan'  ivery  one  o'  ye  oot  o'  the  way,"  cried  ancient 
Nanny,  now  as  wideawake  as  ever  ;  "  Master  Robin  Cocks- 
croft  gie  ma  t'  bairn,  an'  nawbody  sail  hev  him  but  Joan 
Cockscroft." 

Joan  Cockscroft,  with  a  heavy  heart,  was  lingering  far 
behind  the  rest,  thinking  of  the  many  merry  launches,  when 
her  smart  young  Robin  would  have  been  in  the  boat  with 
his  father,  and  her  pretty  little  Mercy,  clinging  to  her  hand, 
upon  the  homeward  road,  and  prattling  of  the  fish  to  be 
caught  that  day  ;  and  inasmuch  as  Joan  had  not  been  able 
to  get  face  to  face  with  her  husband  on  the  beach,  she  had 
not  yet  heard  of  the  stranger  child.  But  soon  the  women 
sent  a  little  boy  to  fetch  her,  and  she  came  among  them, 
wondering  what  it  could  be.  For  now  a  debate  of  some 
vigor  was  arising  upon  a  momentous  and  exciting  point, 
though  not  so  keen  by  a  hundredth  part  as  it  would  have 
been  twenty  years  afterward.  For  the  eldest  old  woman 
had  pronounced  her  decision. 

"  Tell  ye  wat,  ah  dean't  think  bud  wat  yon  bairn  mud 
be  a  Frogman. ' ' 

This  caused  some  panic  and  a  general  retreat ;  for  though 
the  immortal  Napoleon  had  scarcely  finished  changing  his 
teeth  as  yet,  a  chronic  uneasiness  about  Crappos  haunted 


ROBI'tf   LYTII.  77 

that  coast  already,  and  they  might  have  sent  this  little  boy 
to  pave  the  way,  being  capable  of  almost  everything. 

"  Frogman  I"  cried  the  old  woman  next  to  her  by  birth, 
and  believed  to  have  higher  parts,  though  not  yet  ripe. 
"  Na,  na,  what  Frogman  here  ?  Frogmen  ha'  skinny 
shanks,  and  larks'  heels,  and  holes  down  their  bodies  like 
lamperns.  No  sign  of  no  frog  aboot  yon  bairn.  As  fair 
as  a  wench,  and  as  clean  as  a  tyke.  A'  mought  a' most 
been  born  in  Flaambro'.  And  what  gowd  ha'  Crappos  got, 
poor  divils  ?" 

This  opened  the  gate  for  a  clamor  of  discourse  ;  for  there 
surely  could  be  no  denial  of  her  words.  And  yet  while  her 
elder  was  alive  and  out  of  bed,  the  habit  of  the  village  was 
to  listen  to  her  say,  unless  any  man  of  equal  age  arose  to 
countervail  it.  But  while  they  were  thus  divided,  Mrs. 
Cockscroft  came,  and  they  stood  aside.  For  she  had  been 
kind  to  everybody,  when  her  better  chances  were  ;  and  now 
in  her  trouble  all  were  grieved  because  she  took  it  so  to 
heart.  Joan  Cockscroft  did  not  say  a  word,  but  glanced  at 
the  child  with  some  contempt.  In  spite  of  white  linen  and 
yellow  gold,  what  was  he  to  her  own  dead  Robin  ? 

But  suddenly  this  child,  whatever  he  was,  and  vastly 
soever  inferior,  opened  his  eyes  and  sent  home  their  first 
glance  to  the  very  heart  of  Joan  Cockscroft.  It  was  the 
exact  look — or  so  she  always  said — of  her  dead  angel,  when 
she  denied  him  something,  for  the  sake  of  his  poor  dear 
stomach.  With  an  outburst  of  tears,  she  flew  straight  to 
the  little  one,  snatched  him  in  her  arms,  and  tried  to  cover 
him  with  kisses. 

The  child,  however,  in  a  lordly  manner,  did  not  seem  to 
like  it.  He  drew  away  his  red  lips,  and  gathered  up  his 
nose,  and  passion  flew  out  of  his  beautiful  eyes,  higher  pas- 
sion than  that  of  any  Cockscroft.  And  he  tried  to  say 
something,  which  no  one  could  make  out.  And  women  of 
high  consideration,  looking  on,  were  wicked  enough  to  be 
pleased  at  this,  and  say  that  he  must  be  a  young  lord,  and 
they  had  quite  foreseen  it.  But  Joan  knew  what  children 
are,  and  soothed  him  down  so,  with  delicate  hands,  and  a 
gentle  look,  and  a  subtle  way  of  warming  his  cold  places, 
that  he  very  soon  began  to  cuddle  into  her,  and  smile. 


78  MARY   AXERLEY. 

Then  she  turned  round  to  the  other  people,  with  both  of 
his  arms  flung  round  her  neck,  and  his  cheek  laid  on  her 
shoulder,  and  she  only  said,  ' '  The  Lord  hath  sent  him. ' ' 


CHAPTER  XL 

DR.      UPANDOWN. 

THE  practice  of  Flamborough  was  to  listen  fairly  to  any- 
thing that  might  be  said  by  any  one  truly  of  the  native 
breed,  and  to  receive  it  well  into  the  crust  of  the  mind,  and 
let  it  sink  down  slowly.  But  even  after  that  it  might  not 
take  root,  unless  it  were  fixed  in  its  settlement  by  their  two 
great  powers — the  law  and  the  Lord. 

They  had  many  visitations  from  the  Lord,  as  needs  must 
be  in  such  a  very  stormy  place  ;  whereas  of  the  law  they 
heard  much  less  ;  but  still  they  were  even  more  afraid  of 
that  ;  for  they  never  knew  how  much  it  might  cost. 

Balancing  matters  (as  they  did  their  fish,  when  the  price 
was  worth  it,  in  Weighing  Lane),  they  came  to  the  set  con- 
clusion that  the  law  and  the  Lord  might  not  agree  concern- 
ing the  child  cast  among  them  by  the  latter.  A  child  or 
two  had  been  thrown  ashore  before,  and  trouble  once  or 
twice  had  come  of  it  ;  and  this  child  being  cast,  no  one 
could  say  how,  to  such  a  height  above  all  other  children,  he 
was  likely  enough  to  bring  a  spell  upon  their  boats,  if  any- 
thing crooked  to  God's  will  were  done  ;  and  even  to  draw 
them  to  their  last  stocking,  if  anything  offended  the  provi- 
dence of  law. 

In  any  other  place,  it  would  have  been  a  point  of  combat 
what  to  say  and  what  to  do,  in  such  a  case  as  this.  But 
Flamborough  was  of  all  the  wide  world  happiest  in  possess- 
ing an  authority  to  reconcile  all  doubts.  The  law  and  the 
Lord — two  powers  supposed  to  be  at  variance  always,  and  to 
share  the  week  between  them  in  proportions  fixed  by  law- 
yers— the  holy  and  unholy  elements  of  man's  brief  exist- 
ence were  combined  in  Flamborough  parish  in  the  person 
of  its  magisterial  rector.  He  was  also  believed  to  excel  in 


DR.    UPANDOWK.  79 

the  arts  of  divination  and  medicine  too,  for  he  was  a  full 
doctor  of  divinity.  Before  this  gentleman  must  be  laid, 
both  for  purse  and  conscience'  sake,  the  case  of  the  child 
just  come  out  of  the  fogs. 

And  true  it  was  that  all  these  powers  were  centred  in  one 
famous  man,  known  among  the  laity  as  "  Parson  TJpan- 
down. ' '  For  the  Reverend  Turner  Upround,  to  give  him  his 
proper  name,  was  a  doctor  of  divinity,  a  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  the  present  rector  of  Flamborough.  Of  all  his 
offices  and  powers,  there  was  not  one  that  he  overstrained  ; 
and  all  that  knew  him,  unless  they  were  thoroughgoing 
rogues  and  vagabonds,  loved  him.  Not  that  he  was  such  a 
soft-spoken  man  as  many  were,  who  thought  more  evil  ;  but 
because  of  his  deeds  and  nature,  which  were  of  the  kindest. 
He  did  his  utmost,  on  demand  of  duty,  to  sacrifice  this 
nature  to  his  stern  position,  as  pastor  and  master  of  an  up- 
hill parish,  with  many  wrong  things  to  be  kept  under.  But 
while  he  succeeded  in  the  form  now  and  then,  he  failed  con- 
tinually in  the  substance. 

This  gentleman  was  not  by  any  means  a  fool,  unless  a 
kind  heart  proves  folly.  At  Cambridge,  he  had  done  very 
well,  in  the  early  days  of  the  tripos,  and  was  chosen  fellow 
and  tutor  of  Gonville  and  Cains  College.  But  tiring  of  that 
dull  round  in  his  prime,  he  married,  and  took  to  a  living  ; 
and  the  living  was  one  of  the  many  upon  which  a  perpetual 
faster  can  barely  live,  unless  he  can  go  naked  also,  and  keep 
naked  children.  Now  the  parsons  had  not  yet  discovered 
the  glorious  merits  of  hard  fasting,  but  freely  enjoyed,  and 
with  gratitude  to  God,  the  powers  with  which  He  had  blessed 
them.  Happily  Dr.  Upround  had  a  solid  income  of  his 
own,  and  (like  a  sound  mathematician)  he  took  a  wife  of 
terms  coincident.  So,  without  being  wealthy,  they  lived 
very  well,  and  helped  their  poorer  neighbors. 

Such  a  man  generally  thrives  in  the  thriving  of  his  flock, 
and  does  not  harry  them.  He  gives  them  spiritual  food 
enough  to  support  them  without  daintiness,  and  he  keeps 
the  proper  distinction  between  the  Sunday  and  the  poorer 
days.  He  clangs  no  bell  of  reproach  upon  a  Monday,  when 
the  squire  is  leading  the  lady  into  dinner,  and  the  laborer 
sniffing  at  his  supper-pot,  and  he  lets  the  world  play  on  a 


80  MARY   AXERLEY. 

Saturday,  while  ho  works  his  own  head  to  find  good  words 
for  the  morrow.  Because  he  is  a  wise  man  who  knows  what 
other  men  are,  and  how  seldom  they  desire  to  be  told  the 
same  thing,  more  than  a  hundred  and  four  times  in  a  year. 
Neither  did  his  clerical  skill  stop  here  ;  for  Parson  Upround 
thought  twice  about  it  before  he  said  anything  to  rub  sore 
consciences,  even  when  he  had  them  at  his  mercy,  and  silent 
before  him,  on  a  Sunday.  He  behaved  like  a  gentleman 
in  this  matter,  where  so  much  temptation  lurks,  looking 
always  at  the  man  whom  he  did  not  mean  to  hit,  so  that  the 
guilty  one  received  it  through  him,  and  felt  himself  better 
by  comparison.  In  a  word,  this  parson  did  his  duty  well 
and  pleasantly  for  all  his  flock  ;  and  nothing  embittered 
him  unless  a  man  pretended  to  doctrine  without  holy 
orders. 

For  the  doctor  reasoned  thus — and  sound  it  sounds — if 
divinity  is  a  matter  for  Tom,  Dick,  or  Harry,  how  can 
there  be  degrees  in  it  ?  He  held  a  degree  in  it,  and  felt 
what  it  had  cost  ;  and  not  the  parish  only,  but  even  his 
own  wife,  was  proud  to  have  a  doctor  every  Sunday.  And 
his  wife  took  care  that  his  rich  red  hood,  kerseymere  small- 
clothes, and  black-silk  stockings  upon  calves  of  dignity,  were 
such  that  his  congregation  scorned  the  surgeons  all  the  way 
to  Beverley. 

Happy  in  a  pleasant  nature,  kindly  heart,  and  tranquil 
home,  he  was  also  happy  in  those  awards  of  life  in  which 
men  are  helpless.  He  was  blest  with  a  good  wife  and  three 
children,  doing  well,  and  vigorous  and  hardy  as  the  air  and 
clime  and  cliffs.  His  wife  was  not  quite  of  his  own  age, 
but  old  enough  to  understand  and  follow  him  faithfully 
down  the  slope  of  years.  A  wife  with  mind  enough  to 
know  that  a  husband  is  not  faultless,  and  with  heart  enough 
to  feel  that  if  he  were,  possibly  she  might  not  love  him  so. 
And  under  her  were  comprised  their  children,  two  boys  at 
school,  and  a  baby-girl  at  home. 

So  far,  the  rector  of  this  parish  was  truly  blessed  and 
blessing.  But  in  every  man's  lot  must  be  some  crook, 
since  this  crooked  world  turned  r6und.  In  Parson  Tip- 
round's  lot  the  crook  might  seem  a  very  small  one  ;  but  he 
found  it  almost  too  big  for  him.  His  dignity,  and  peace 


DR.    TJPAKDOWN".  81 

of  mind,  largo  good-will  of  ministry,  and  strong  Christian 
sense  of  magistracy,  all  were  sadly  pricked  and  wounded 
by  a  very  small  thorn  in  the  flesh  of  his  spirit. 

Almost  every  honest  man  is  the  rightful  owner  of  a  nick- 
name. When  he  was  a  boy  at  school  he  could  not  do  with- 
out one,  and  if  the  other  boys  valued  him,  perhaps  he  had 
a  dozen.  And  afterward,  when  there  is  less  perception  of 
right  and  wrong  and  character,  in  the  weaker  time  of  man- 
hood, he  may  earn  another,  if  the  spirit  is  within  him. 

But  woe  is  him,  if  a  nasty  foe,  or  somebody  trying  to  be 
one,  annoyed  for  the  moment  with  him,  yet  meaning  no 
more  harm  than  pepper,  smite  him  to  the  quick,  at  venture, 
in  his  most  retired  and  privy-conscienced  hole.  And  when 
this  is  done  by  a  non-conformist  to  a  doctor  of  divinity, 
and  the  man  who  does  it  owes  some  money  to  the  man  he 
does  it  to,  can  the  latter  gentleman  take  a  large  and  genial 
view  of  his  critic  ? 

This  gross  wrong  and  ungrateful  outrage  was  inflicted 
thus.  A  leading  Methodist  from  Filey  town,  who  owed 
the  doctor  half  a  guinea,  came  one  summer  and  set  up  his 
staff  in  the  hollow  of  a  lime-kiln,  where  he  lived  upon  fish 
for  change  of  diet,  and  because  he  could  get  it  for  nothing. 
This  was  a  man  of  some  eloquence,  and  his  calling  in  life 
was  cobbling  ;  and  to  encourage  him  therein,  and  keep  him 
from  theology,  the  rector  not  only  forgot  his  half-guinea, 
but  sent  him  three  or  four  pairs  of  riding-boots  to  mend, 
and  let  him  charge  his  own  price,  which  was  strictly  hetero- 
dox. As  a  part  of  the  bargain,  this  fellow  came  to  church, 
and  behaved  as  well  as  could  be  hoped  of  a  man  who  had 
received  his  money.  He  sat  by  a  pillar,  and  no  more  than 
crossed  his  legs  at  the  worst  thing  that  disagreed  with  him. 
And  it  might  have  done  him  good,  and  made  a  decent  cob- 
bler of  him,  if  the  parson  had  only  held  him,  when  he  got 
him  on  the  hook.  But  this  is  the  very  thing  which  all 
great  preachers  are  too  benevolent  to  do.  Dr.  Upround 
looked  at  this  sinner,  who  was  getting  into  a  fright  upon 
his  own  account,  though  not  a  bad  preacher  when  he  could 
afford  it  ;  and  the  cobbler  could  no  more  look  up  at  the 
doctor,  than  when  he  charged  him  a  full  crown  beyond  the 
contract.  In  his  kindness  for  all  who  seemed  convinced  of 


82  MARY    ANERLEY. 

sin,  the  good  preacher  halted,  and  looked  at  Mr.  Jobbins 
with  a  soft,  relaxing  gaze.  Jobbins  appeared  as  if  he  would 
come  to  church  forever,  and  never  cheat  any  sound  clergy- 
man again  ;  whereupon  the  generous  divine  omitted  a  whole 
page  of  menaces  prepared  for  him,  and  passed  prematurely 
to  the  tender  strain,  which  always  winds  up  a  good  sermon. 

Now  what  did  Jobbins  do  in  return  for  all  this  magnani- 
mous mercy  ?  Invited  to  dine  with  the  senior  churchwar- 
den upon  the  strength  of  having  been  at  church,  and  to 
encourage  him  for  another  visit,  and  being  asked,  as  soon 
as  ever  decency  permitted,  what  he  thought  of  Parson  Up- 
round' s  doctrine,  between  two  crackles  of  young  griskin 
(come  straight  from  the  rectory  pig-sty),  he  was  grieved  to 
express  a  stern  opinion  long  remembered  at  Flamborough  : 

"  Ca'  yo  yon  mon  *  Dr.  Uproond  '  ?  I  ca'  un  '  Dr. 
Upandoon.7  " 

From  that  day  forth  the  rector  of  the  parish  was  known 
far  and  wide  as  "  Dr.  Upandown,"  even  among  those  who 
loved  him  best.  For  the  name  well  described  his  benevo- 
lent practice  of  undoing  any  harsh  thing  he  might  have 
said,  sometimes  by  a  smile,  and  very  often  with  a  shilling, 
or  a  basket  of  spring  cabbages.  So  that  Mrs.  Upround, 
when  buttoning  up  his  coat — which  he  always  forgot  to  do 
for  himself — did  it  with  the  words,  "  My  dear,  now  scold 
no  one  ;  really  it  is  becoming  too  expensive."  "  Shall  I 
abandon  duty,"  he  would  answer  with  some  dignity, 
"  while  a  shilling  is  sufficient  to  enforce  it  ?" 

Dr.  Upround's  people  had  now  found  out  that  their 
minister  and  magistrate  discharged  his  duty  toward  his  pil- 
low, no  less  than  to  his  pulpit.  His  parish  had  acquired, 
through  the  work  of  generations,  a  habit  of  getting  up  at 
night,  and  being  all  alive  at  cock-crow  ;  and  the  rector 
(while  very  new  among  them)  tried  to  bow — or  rather 
rise — to  night-watch.  But  a  little  of  that  exercise  lasted 
him  for  long  ;  and  he  liked  to  talk  of  it  afterward  ;  but 
for  the  present  was  obliged  to  drop  it.  For  he  found  him- 
self pale,  when  his  wife  made  him  see  himself  ;  and  his 
hours  of  shaving  were  so  dreadful  ;  and  scarcely  a  bit  of 
fair  dinner  could  be  got,  with  the  whole  of  the  day  thrown 
out  so.  In  short,  he  settled  it  wisely,  that  the  fishers  of 


DR.    UPAETDOWN.  83 

fish  must  yield  to  the  habits  of  fish,  which  cannot  be  cor- 
rected ;  but  the  fishers  of  men  (who  can  live  without  catch- 
ing them)  need  not  be  up  to  all  their  hours,  but  may  take 
them  reasonably. 

His  parishioners — who  could  do  very  well  without  him, 
so  far  as  that  goes,  all  the  week,  and  by  no  means  wanted 
him  among  their  boats — joyfully  left  him  to  his  own  time 
of  day,  and  no  more  worried  him  out  of  season  than  he 
worried  them  so.  It  became  a  matter  of  right  feeling  with 
them,  not  to  ring  a  big  bell,  which  the  rector  had  put  up 
to  challenge  everybody's  spiritual  need,  until  the  stable- 
clock  behind  the  bell  had  struck  ten,  and  finished  gurgling. 

For  this  reason,  on  St.  Swithin's  morn,  in  the  said  year 
1782,  the  grannies,  wives,  and  babes  of  Flarnborough,  who 
had  been  to  help  the  launch,  but  could  not  pull  the  labor- 
ing oar,  nor  even  hold  the  tiller,  spent  the  time  till  ten 
o'clock  in  seeing  to  their  own  affairs — the  most  laudable  of 
all  pursuits  for  almost  any  woman.  And  then,  with  some 
little  dispute  among  them  (the  offspring  of  the  merest  acci- 
dent), they  arrived  in  some  force  at  the  gate  of  Dr. 
TJpround,  and  no  woman  liked  to  pull  the  bell,  and  still  less 
to  let  another  woman  do  it  for  her.  But  an  old  man  came 
up  who  was  quite  deaf,  and  every  one  asked  him  to  do  it. 

In  spite  of  the  scarcity  of  all  good  things,  Mrs.  Cocks- 
croft  had  thoroughly  fed  the  little  stranger,  and  washed 
him,  and  undressed  him,  and  set  him  up  in  her  own  bed, 
and  wrapped  him  in  her  woollen  shawl,  because  he  shivered 
sadly  ;  and  there  he  stared  about  with  wondering  eyes,  and 
gave  great  orders — so  far  as  his  new  nurse  could  make  out 
— but  speaking  gibberish,  as  she  said,  and  flying  into  a  rage 
because  it  was  out  of  Christian  knowledge.  But  he  seemed 
to  understand  some  English,  although  he  could  only  pro- 
nounce two  words,  both  short,  and  in  such  conjunction  quite 
unlawful  for  any  except  the  highest  Spiritual  Power.  Mrs. 
Cockscroft,  being  a  pious  woman,  hoped  that  her  ears  were 
wrong,  or  else  that  the  words  were  foreign  and  meant  no 
harm,  though  the  child  seemed  to  take  in  much  of  what  was 
said,  and  when  asked  his  name,  answered  wrathfully,  and 
as  if  everybody  was  bound  to  know,  u  Izunsabe,  Izun- 
sabe  !" 


84  MARY   AKERLEY. 

But  now,  when  brought  before  Dr.  Upround,  no  child 
of  the  very  best  English  stock  could  look  more  calm  and 
peaceful.  He  could  walk  well  enough,  but  liked  better  to 
be  carried  ;  and  the  kind  woman  who  had  so  taken  him  up 
was  only  too  proud  to  carry  him.  Whatever  the  rector  and 
magistrate  might  say,  her  meaning  was  to  keep  this  little 
one,  with  her  husband's  good  consent,  which  she  was  sure 
of  getting. 

44  Set  him  down,  ma' ami"  the  doctor  said,  when  he  had 
heard  from  half  a  dozen  good  women  all  about  him  ;  "  Mis- 
tress Cockscroft,  put  him  on  his  legs,  and  let  me  question 
him." 

But  the  child  resisted  this  proceeding.  With  nature's 
inborn  and  just  loathing  of  examination,  he  spun  upon  his 
little  heels,  and  swore  with  all  his  might,  at  the  same  time 
throwing  up  his  hands  and  twirling  his  thumbs  in  a  very 
odd  and  foreign  way. 

li  What  a  shocking  child  !"  cried  Mrs.  Upround,  who 
was  come  to  know  all  about  it.  "  Jane,  run  away  with 
Miss  Janetta. ' ' 

"  The  child  is  not  to  blame,"  said  the  rector,  "  but  only 
the  people  who  have  brought  him  up.  A  prettier  or  more 
clever  little  head  I  have  never  seen  in  all  my  life  ;  and  we 
studied  such  things  at  Cambridge.  My  fine  little  fellow, 
shake  hands  with  me." 

The  boy  broke  off  his  vicious  little  dance,  and  looked  up 
at  this  tall  gentleman  with  great  surprise.  His  dark  eyes 
dwelt  upon  the  parson's  kindly  face,  with  that  power  of 
inquiry  which  the  very  young  possess,  and  then  he  put  both 
little  hands  into  the  gentleman's  and  burst  into  a  torrent  of 
the  most  heart-broken  tears. 

"  Poor  little  man  !"  said  the  rector  very  gently,  taking 
him  up  in  his  arms  and  patting  the  silky  black  curls,  while 
great  drops  fell,  and  a  nose  was  rubbed  on  his  shoulder  ; 
44  it  is  early  for  you  to  begin  bad  times.  Why,  how  old 
are  you,  if  you  please  ?" 

The  little  boy  sat  up  on  the  kind  man's  arm,  and  poked 
a  small  investigating  finger  into  the  ear  that  was  next  to  him, 
and  the  locks  just  beginning  to  be  marked  with  gray  ;  and 
then  he  said,  44  Sore,"  and  tossed  his  chin  up,  evidently 


DR.    UPANDOWN".  85 

meaning,  ' l  Make  your  best  of  that. ' '  And  the  women 
drew  a  long  breath,  and  nudged  at  one  another. 

"  Well  done  !  Four  years  old,  my  dear.  You  see  that 
he  understands  English  well  enough,"  said  the  parson  to 
his  parishioners  ;  "  he  will  tell  us  all  about  himself  by  and 
by,  if  we  do  not  hurry  him.  You  think  him  a  French 
child.  I  do  not.  Though  the  name  which  he  gives  him- 
self, l  Izunsabe,7  has  a  French  aspect  about  it.  Let  me 
think.  I  will  try  him  with  a  French  interrogation  :  4  Par- 
lez-vous  Fran^ais,  mon  enfant  ?  ' 

Dr.  Upround  watched  the  effect  of  his  words  with  out- 
ward calm,  but  an  inward  flutter.  For  if  this  clever  child 
should  reply  in  French,  the  doctor  could  never  go  on  with 
it,  but  must  stand  there  before  his  congregation,  in  a  worse 
position  than  when  he  lost  his  place,  as  sometimes  happened 
in  a  sermon.  With  wild  temerity  he  had  given  vent  to  the 
only  French  words  within  his  knowledge  ;  and  he  deter- 
mined to  follow  them  up  with  Latin,  if  the  worst  came  to 
the  worst. 

But  luckily  no  harm  came  of  this,  but,  contrariwise,  a 
lasting  good.  For  the  child  looked  none  the  wiser,  while 
the  doctor's  reputation  was  increased. 

"  Aha  !"  the  good  parson  cried.  "  I  was  sure  that  he 
was  no  Frenchman.  But  we  must  hear  something  about 
him  very  soon,  for  what  you  tell  me  is  impossible.  If  he 
had  come  from  the  sea  he  must  have  been  wet  ;  it  could 
never  be  otherwise.  Whereas,  his  linen  clothes  are  dry, 
and  even  quite  lately  fullered — ironed  you  might  call  it. " 

"  Please  your  worship,"  cried  Mrs.  Cockscroft,  who  was 
growing  wild  with  jealousy  ;  "  I  did  up  all  his  little  things, 
hours  and  hours  ere  your  hoose  was  up." 

"  Ah,  you  had  night  work  !  To  be  sure.  Were  his 
clothes  dry  or  wet  when  you  took  them  off  ?" 

"  Not  to  say  dry,  your  worship  ;  and  yet  not  to  say  very 
wet.  Betwixt  and  between,  like  my  good  master's,  when 
he  cometh  from  a  pour  of  rain,  or  a  heavy  spray.  And 
the  color  of  the  land  was  upon  them  here  and  there.  And 
the  gold  tags  were  sewn  with  something  wonderful.  My  best 
pair  of  scissors  would  not  touch  it.  I  was  frightened  to  put 
them  to  the  tub,  your  worship  ;  but  they  up  and  shone 


86  MAKY   ASTERLEY. 

lovely  like  a  tailor's  buttons.  My  master  hath  found  him, 
sir  ;  and  it  lies  with  him  to  keep  him.  And  the  Lord  hath 
taken  away  our  Bob." 

4 1  It  is  true/'  said  Dr.  Upround  gently,  and  placing  the 
child  in  her  arms  again,  "  the  Almighty  has  chastened  you 
very  sadly.  This  child  is  not  mine  to  dispose  of,  nor 
yours  ;  but  if  he  will  comfort  you,  keep  him  till  we  hear 
of  him.  I  will  take  down  in  writing  the  particulars  of  the 
case,  when  Captain  Robin  has  come  home  and  had  his  rest, 
say  at  this  time  to-morrow,  or  later  ;  and  then  you  will  sign 
them,  and  they  shall  be  published.  For  you  know,  Mrs. 
Cockscroft,  however  much  you  may  be  taken  with  him, 
you  must  not  turn  kidnapper.  Moreover,  it  is  needful,  as 
there  may  have  been  some  wreck  (though  none  of  you  seem 
to  have  heard  of  any),  that  this  strange  occurrence  should  be 
made  knowrn.  Then,  if  nothing  is  heard  of  it,  you  can 
keep  him,  and  may  the  Lord  bless  him  to  you  1" 

Without  any  more  ado  she  kissed  the  child,  and  wanted 
to  carry  him  straight  away,  after  courtesying  to  his  wor- 
ship ;  but  all  the  other  women  insisted  on  a  smack  of  him, 
for  pity's  sake,  and  the  pleasure  of  the  gold,  and  to  confirm 
the  settlement.  And  a  settlement  it  was  ;  for  nothing 
came  of  any  publication  of  the  case,  such  as  in  those  days 
could  be  made  without  great  expense  and  exertion. 

So  the  boy  grew  up,  tall,  brave,  and  comely,  and  full  of 
the  spirit  of  adventure,  as  behoved  a  boy  cast  on  the  winds. 
So  far  as  that  goes,  his  foster-parents  would  rather  have 
found  him  more  steady  and  less  comely  ;  for  if  he  must 
step  into  their  lost  son's  shoes,  he  might  do  it,  without 
seeming  to  outshine  him.  But  they  got  over  that  little 
jealousy  in  time,  when  the  boy  began  to  be  useful,  and,  so 
far  as  was  possible,  they  kept  him  under,  by  quoting  against 
him  the  character  of  Bob,  bringing  it  back  from  heaven  of 
a  much  higher  quality  than  ever  it  was  while  beneath  it. 
In  vain  did  this  living  child  aspire  to  such  level  ;  how  can 
any  earthly  boy  compare  with  one  who  never  did  a  wrong 
thing,  as  soon  as  he  was  dead  ? 

Passing  that  difficult  question,  and  forbearing  to  compare 
a  boy  with  angels,  be  he  what  he  will,  his  first  need  (after 
that  of  victuals)  is  a  name,  whereby  his  fellow- boys  may 


DK.    UPAlsTDOWN".  87 

know  him.  Is  he  to  be  shouted  at  with,  "  Come  here, 
what's  your  name  ?"  or  is  he  to  be  called  (as  if  in  high  re- 
buke), "  Boy"  ?  And  yet  there  are  grown-up  folk  who  do 
all  this  without  hesitation,  failing  to  remember  their  own 
predicament  at  a  bygone  period.  Boys  are  as  useful,  in  their 
way,  as  any  other  order  ;  and  if  they  can  be  said  to  do 
some  mischief,  they  cannot  be  said  to  do  it  negligently. 
It  is  their  privilege,  and  duty,  to  be  truly  active  ;  and  their 
Maker,  having  spread  a  dull  world  before  them,  has  pro- 
vided them  with  gifts  of  play,  while  their  joints  are  supple. 

The  present  boy,  having  been  born  without  a  father  or  a 
mother  (so  far  as  could  yet  be  discovered),  was  driven  to 
do  what  our  ancestors  must  have  done,  when  it  was  less 
needful.  That  is  to  say,  to  work  his  own  name  out,  by 
some  distinctive  process.  When  the  parson  had  clearly 
shown  him  not  to  be  a  Frenchman,  a  large  contumely 
spread  itself  about,  by  reason  of  his  gold,  and  eyes,  and  hair, 
and  name  (which  might  be  meant  for  Isaak),  that  he  was 
sprung  from  a  race  more  honored  now  than  a  hundred  years 
ago.  But  the  women  declared  that  it  could  not  be  ;  and 
the  rector  desiring  to  christen  him,  because  it  might  never 
have  been  done  before,  refused  point-blank  to  put  any 
"  Isaac"  in,  and  was  satisfied  with  *'  Robin'*  only,  the 
name  of  the  man  who  had  saved  him. 

The  rector  showed  deep  knowledge  of  his  flock,  which 
looked  upon  Jews  as  the  goats  of  the  Kingdom  ;  for  any 
Jew  must  die  for  a  world  of  generations,  ere  ever  a  Chris- 
tian thinks  much  of  him.  But  finding  him  not  to  be  a 
Jew,  the  other  boys,  instead  of  being  satisfied,  condemned 
him  for  a  Dutchman. 

Whatever  he  was,  the  boy  throve  well,  and  being  so 
flouted  by  his  playmates,  took  to  thoughts,  and  habits,  and 
amusements  of  his  own.  In-door  life  never  suited  him  at 
all,  nor  too  much  of  hard  learning,  although  his  capacity 
was  such  that  he  took  more  advancement  in  an  hour  than 
the  thick  heads  of  young  Flamborough  made  in  a  whole 
leap-year  of  Sundays.  For  any  Flamburian  boy  was  con- 
sidered a  "  Brain  Scholar,"  and  a  "  Head-Languager," 
when  he  could  write  down  the  parson's  text,  and  chalk  up 
a  fish  on  the  weigh-board,  so  that  his  father  or  mother  could 


88  MARY   ANERLEY. 

tell  in  three  guesses  what  manner  of  fish  it  was.  And  very 
few  indeed  had  ever  passed  this  trial. 

For  young  Robin  it  was  a  very  hard  thing  to  be  treated 
so  by  the  other  boys.  He  could  run,  or  jump,  or  throw  a 
stone,  or  climb  a  rock  with  the  best  of  them  ;  but  all  these 
things  he  must  do  by  himself,  simply  because  he  had  no 
name.  A  feeble  youth  would  have  moped  ;  but  Robin 
only  grew  more  resolute.  Alone  he  did  what  the  other 
boys  would  scarcely  in  competition  dare.  No  crag  was  too 
steep  for  him,  no  cave  too  dangerous  and  wave-beaten,  no 
race  of  the  tide  so  strong  and  swirling  as  to  scare  him  of 
his  wits.  He  seemed  to  rejoice  in  danger,  having  very  lit- 
tle else  to  rejoice  in  ;  and  he  won  for  himself,  by  nimble 
ways  and  rapid  turns  on  land  and  sea,  the  name  of  "  Lithe," 
or  "  Lyth,"  and  made  it  famous  even  far  inland. 

For  it  may  be  supposed  that  his  love  of  excitement,  ver- 
satility, and  daring,  demanded  a  livelier  outlet  than  the 
slow  toil  of  deep-sea  fishing.  To  the  most  patient,  perse- 
vering, and  long-suffering  of  the  arts,  Robin  Lyth  did  not 
take  kindly,  although  he  was  so  handy  with  a  boat.  Old 
Robin  vainly  strove  to  cast  his  angling  mantle  over  him. 
The  gifts  of  the  youth  were  brighter  and  higher  ;  he 
showed  an  inborn  fitness  for  the  lofty  development  of  free- 
trade.  Eminent  powers  must  force  their  way,  as  now  they 
were  doing  with  Napoleon  ;  and  they  did  the  same  with 
Robin  Lyth,  without  exacting  tithe  in  kind  of  all  the  fore- 
most human  race. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

IN    A    LANE,     NOT    ALONE. 

STEPHEN  ANERLEY'S  daughter  was  by  no  means  of  a 
crooked  mind,  but  open  as  the  day  in  all  things,  unless  any 
one  mistrusted  her,  and  showed  it  by  cross-questioning. 
When  this  was  done,  she  resented  it  quickly,  by  concealing 
the  very  things  which  she  would  have  told  of  her  own 
accord  ;  and  it  so  happened  that  the  person  to  whom  of  all 
she  should  have  been  most  open  was  the  one  most  apt  to 


IN  A   LAKE,    NOT  ALONE.  89 

check  her  by  suspicious  curiosity.  And  now  her  mother 
already  began  to  do  this,  as  concerned  the  smuggler,  know- 
ing from  the  revenue  officer  that  her  Mary  must  have  seen 
him.  Mary,  being  a  truthful  damsel,  told  no  lies  about  it  ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  she  did  not  rush  forth  with  all  the 
history,  as  she  probably  would  have  done,  if  left  unexam- 
ined.  And  so  she  said  nothing  about  the  ear-ring,  or  the 
run  that  was  to  come  off  that  week,  or  the  riding-skirt,  or 
a  host  of  little  things,  including  her  promise  to  visit  Bemp- 
ton  Lane. 

On  the  other  hand,  she  had  a  mind  to  tell  her  father, 
and  take  his  opinion  about  it  all.  But  he  was  a  little  cross 
that  evening,  not  with  her,  but  with  the  world  at  large  ; 
and  that  discouraged  her  ;  and  then  she  thought  that  being 
an  officer  of  the  king — as  he  liked  to  call  himself  sometimes 
— he  might  feel  bound  to  give  information  about  the  im- 
pending process  of  free-trade  ;  which  to  her  would  be  a 
breach  of  honor,  considering  how  she  knew  of  it. 

Upon  the  whole,  she  heartily  wished  that  she  never  had 
seen  that  Robin  Lyth  ;  and  then  she  became  ashamed  of 
herself,  for  indulging  such  a  selfish  wish.  For  he  might 
have  been  lying  dead  but  for  her  ;  and  then  what  would 
become  of  the  many  poor  people,  whose  greatest  comfort 
he  was  said  to  be  ?  And  what  good  could  arise  from  his 
destruction,  if  cruel  officers  compassed  it  ?  Free-trade  must 
be  carried  on,  for  the  sake  of  everybody,  including  Cap- 
tain Carroway  himself  ;  and  if  an  old  and  ugly  man  suc- 
ceeded a  young  and  generous  one,  as  leader  of  the  free- 
trade  movement,  all  the  women  of  the  county  would  put 
the  blame  on  her. 

Looking  at  these  things  loftily,  and  with  a  strong  deter- 
mination not  to  think  twice  of  what  any  one  might  say  who 
did  not  understand  the  subject,  Mary  was  forced  at  last  to 
the  stern  conclusion  that  she  must  keep  her  promise.  Not 
only  because  it  was  a  promise — although  that  went  a  very 
long  way  with  her — but  also  because  there  seemed  no  other 
chance  of  performing  a  positive  duty.  Simple  honesty 
demanded  that  she  should  restore  to  the  owner  a  valuable, 
and  beyond  all  doubt  important,  piece  of  property.  Two 
hours  had  she  spent  in  looking  for  it,  and  deprived  her 


90  MARY   A3STERLEY. 

dear  father  of  his  breakfast-shrimps  ;  and  was  all  this 
trouble  to  be  thrown  away,  and  herself  perhaps  accused  of 
theft,  because  her  mother  was  so  short  and  sharp  in  want- 
ing to  know  everything,  and  to  turn  it  her  own  way  ? 

The  trinket  which  she  had  found  at  last  seemed  to  be  a 
very  uncommon  and  precious  piece  of  jewelry  ;  it  was  made 
of  pure  gold  minutely  chased  and  threaded  with  curious 
workmanship,  in  form  like  a  melon,  and  bearing  what 
seemed  to  be  characters  of  some  foreign  language  ;  there 
might  be  a  spell,  or  even  witchcraft  in  it,  and  the  sooner  it 
was  out  of  her  keeping  the  better.  Nevertheless  she  took 
very  good  care  of  it,  wrapping  it  in  lamb's  wool,  and  peep- 
ing at  it  many  times  a  day,  to  be  sure  that  it  was  safe. 
Until  it  made  her  think  of  the  owner  so  much,  and  the 
many  wonders  she  had  heard  about  him,  that  she  grew  quite 
angry  with  herself  and  it,  and  locked  it  away,  and  then 
looked  at  it  again. 

As  luck  would  have  it,  on  the  very  day  when  Mary  was 
to  stroll  down  Bempton  Lane  (not  to  meet  any  one,  of 
course,  but  simply  for  the  merest  chance  of  what  might 
happen),  her  father  had  business  at  Driffield  corn-market, 
which  would  keep  him  from  home  nearly  all  the  day. 
When  his  daughter  heard  of  it,  she  was  much  cast  down  ; 
for  she  hoped  that  he  might  have  been  looking  about  on 
the  northern  part  of  the  farm,  as  he  generally  was  in  the 
afternoon  ;  and  although  he  could  not  see  Bempton  Lane 
at  all,  perhaps,  without  some  newly  acquired  power  of  see- 
ing round  sharp  corners,  still  it  would  have  been  a  comfort 
and  a  strong  resource  for  conscience  to  have  felt  that  he 
was  not  so  very  far  away.  And  this  feeling  of  want  made 
his  daughter  resolve  to  have  some  one  at  any  rate  near  her. 
If  Jack  had  only  been  at  home,  she  need  have  sought  no 
farther,  for  he  would  have  entered  into  all  her  thoughts 
about  it,  and  obeyed  her  orders  beautifully.  But  Willie 
was  quite  different,  and  hated  any  trouble,  being  spoiled  so 
by  his  mother,  and  the  maidens  all  around  them. 

However,  in  such  a  strait,  what  was  there  to  do,  but  to 
trust  in  Willie,  who  was  old  enough,  being  five  years  in 
front  of  Mary,  and  then  to  try  to  make  him  sensible  ? 
Willie  Anerley  had  no  idea  that  anybody — far  less  his  own 


IN   A   LANE,    NOT   ALONE.  91 

sister — could  take  such  a  view  of  him.  He  knew  himself 
to  be,  and  all  would  say  the  same  of  him,  superior  in  his 
original  gifts,  and  his  manner  of  making  use  of  them,  to  the 
rest  of  the  family  put  together.  He  had  spent  a  month  in 
Glasgow,  when  the  whole  place  was  astir  with  the  ferment 
of  many  great  inventions,  and  another  month  in  Edinburgh, 
when  that  noble  city  was  aglow  with  the  dawn  of  large 
ideas  ;  also,  he  had  visited  London,  foremost  of  his  family, 
and  seen  enough  of  new  things  there  to  fill  all  Yorkshire  with 
surprise  ;  and  the  result  of  such  wide  experience  was  that 
he  did  not  like  hard  work  at  all.  Neither  could  he  even  be 
content  to  accept  and  enjoy,  without  labor  of  his  own,  the 
many  good  things  provided  for  him.  He  was  always  try- 
ing to  discover  something,  which  never  seemed  to  answer, 
and  continually  flying  after  something  new,  of  which  he 
never  got  fast  hold,  In  a  word,  he  was  spoiled,  by  nature 
first,  and  then  by  circumstances,  for  the  peaceful  life  of  his 
ancestors,  and  the  unacknowledged  blessings  of  a  farmer. 

"  Willie,  dear,  will  you  come  with  me  ?"  Mary  said  to 
him  that  day,  catching  him  as  he  ran  down-stairs,  to  air 
some  inspiration  ;  "  will  you  come  with  me  for  just  one 
hour  ?  I  wish  you  would  ;  and  I  would  be  so  thankful. " 

"  Child,  it  is  quite  impossible, "  he  answered,  with  a 
frown  which  set  off  his  delicate  eyebrows  and  high  but 
rather  narrow  forehead  ;  "  you  always  want  me  at  the  very 
moment  when  I  have  the  most  important  work  in  hand. 
Any  childish  whim  of  yours  matters  more  than  hours  and 
hours  of  hard  labor." 

"  Oh,  Willie,  but  you  know  how  I  try  to  help  you,  and 
all  the  patterns  I  cut  out  last  week  !  Do  come  for  once, 
Willie  ;  if  you  refuse,  you  will  never,  never  forgive  your- 
self." 

Willie  Anerley  was  as  good-natured  as  any  self-indul- 
gent youth  can  be  ;  he  loved  his  sister  in  his  way,  and  was 
indebted  to  her  for  getting  out  of  a  great  many  little 
scrapes.  He  saw  how  much  she  was  in  earnest  now,  and 
felt  some  desire  to  know  what  it  was  about.  Moreover — 
which  settled  the  point — he  was  getting  tired  of  sticking  o 
one  thing  for  a  time  unusually  long  with  him.  But  he 


92  MAKY   ANERLEY. 

would  not  throw  away  the  chance  of  scoring  a  huge  debt 
of  gratitude. 

*'  Well,  do  what  you  like  with  me/'  he  answered,  with 
a  smile  ;  "  I  never  can  have  my  own  way  five  minutes.  It 
serves  me  quite  right  for  being  so  good-natured.'7 

Mary  gave  him  a  kiss,  which  must  have  been  an  object 
of  ambition  to  anybody  else  ;  bat  it  only  made  him  wipe 
his  mouth  ;  and  presently  the  two  set  forth  upon  the  path 
toward  Bempton. 

Robin  Lyth  had  chosen  well  his  place  for  meeting  Mary. 
The  lane  (of  which  he  knew  every  yard,  as  well  as  he  knew 
the  rocks  themselves)  was  deep,  and  winding,  and  fringed 
with  bushes,  so  that  an  active  and  keen-eyed  man  might 
leap  into  thicket,  almost  before  there  was  a  fair  chance  of 
shooting  him.  He  knew  well  enough  that  he  might  trust 
Mary  ;  but  he  never  could  be  sure  that  the  bold  "  coast- 
riders,  "  despairing  by  this  time  of  catching  him  at  sea,  and 
longing  for  the  weight  of  gold  put  upon  his  head,  might 
not  be  setting  privy  snares  to  catch  him  in  his  walks  abroad. 
They  had  done  so  when  they  pursued  him  up  the  dike  ; 
and  though  he  was  inclined  to  doubt  the  strict  legality  of 
that  proceeding,  he  could  not  see  his  way  to  a  fair  discussion 
of  it,  in  case  of  their  putting  a  bullet  through  him.  And 
this  consideration  made  him  careful. 

The  brother  and  sister  went  on  well  by  the  footpath  over 
the  uplands  of  the  farm,  and  crossing  the  neck  of  the  Flam- 
burn  peninsula,  tripped  away  merrily  northward.  The  wheat 
looked  healthy,  and  the  barley  also,  and  a  four-acre  patch 
of  potatoes  smelled  sweetly  (for  the  breeze  of  them  was 
pleasant  in  their  wholesome  days),  and  Willie,  having  over- 
worked his  brain,  according  to  his  own  account  of  it,  strode 
along  loftily  before  his  sister,  casting  over  his  shoulder  an 
eddy  of  some  large  ideas,  with  which  he  had  been  visited, 
before  she  interrupted  him.  But,  as  nothing  ever  came  of 
them,  they  need  not  here  be  stated.  From  a  practical  point 
of  view,  however,  as  they  both  had  to  live  upon  the  profits 
of  the  farm,  it  pleased  them  to  observe  what  a  difference 
there  was,  when  they  had  surmounted  the  chine,  and  began 
to  descend  toward  the  north  upon  other  people's  land. 
Here  all  was  damp  and  cold  and  slow  ;  and  chalk  looked 


IN   A   LANE,    NOT  ALONE.  93 

slimy  instead  of  being  clean  ;  and  shadowy  places  had  an 
oozy  cast  ;  and  trees  (wherever  they  could  stand)  were  fac- 
ing the  east  with  wrinkled  visage,  and  the  west  with  wiry 
beards.  Willie  (who  had,  among  other  great  inventions,  a 
scheme  for  improvement  of  the  climate)  was  reminded  at 
once  of  all  the  things  he  meant  to  do  in  that  way  ;  and 
making,  as  he  always  did,  a  great  point  of  getting  observa- 
tions first — a  point  whereon  he  stuck  fast  mainly — without 
any  time  for  delay  he  applied  himself  to  a  rapid  study  of 
the  subject.  He  found  some  things  just  like  other  things 
which  he  had  seen  in  Scotland,  yet  differing  so  as  to  prove 
more  clearly,  than  even  their  resemblance  did,  the  value  of 
his  discovery. 

"  Look  !"  he  cried,  "  can  anything  be  clearer?  The 
cause  of  all  these  evils  is,  not  (as  an  ignorant  person  might 
suppose)  the  want  of  sunshine,  or  too  much  wet,  but  an 
inadequate  movement  of  the  air — " 

"  Why,  I  thought  it  was  always  blowing  up  here  !  The 
very  last  time  I  came,  my  bonnet-strings  were  split. " 

"  You  do  not  understand  me  ;  you  never  do.  When  I 
say  inadequate,  I  mean  of  course  incorrect,  inaccurate,  un- 
equable. Now  the  air  is  a  fluid  ;  you  may  stare  as  you 
like,  Mary,  but  the  air  has  been  proved  to  be  a  fluid. 
Very  well,  no  fluid  in  large  bodies  moves  with  an  equal 
velocity  throughout.  Part  of  it  is  rapid,  and  part  quite 
stagnant.  The  stagnant  places  of  the  air  produce  this  green 
scam,  this  mossy,  unwholesome,  and  injurious  stuff  ;  while 
the  over-rapid  motion  causes  this  iron  appearance,  this  hard 
surface,  and  general  sterility.  By  the  simplest  of  simple 
contrivances,  I  make  this  evil  its  own  remedy.  An  equable 
impulse  given  to  the  air  produces  an  adequate  uniform  flow, 
preventing  stagnation  in  one  place  and  excessive  vehemence 
in  another.  And  the  beauty  of  it  is,  that  by  my  new  in- 
vention I  make  the  air  itself  correct  and  regulate  its  own 
inequalities." 

tc  How  clever  you  are,  to  be  sure  !"  exclaimed  Mary, 
wondering  that  her  father  could  not  see  it.  "  Oh,  Willie, 
you  will  make  your  fortune  by  it  !  However  do  you  do 
it?" 

"  The  simplicity  of  it  is  such  that  even  you  can  under- 


94  MARY   AtfERLEY. 

stand  it.  All  great  discoveries  are  simple.  I  fix  in  a 
prominent  situation  a  large  and  vertically  revolving  fan,  of  a 
light  and  vibrating  substance.  The  movement  of  the  air 
causes  this  to  rotate,  by  the  mere  force  of  the  impact.  The 
rotation  and  the  vibration  of  the  fan  convert  an  irregular 
impulse  into  a  steady  and  equable  undulation  ;  and  such  is 
the  elasticity  of  the  fluid  called,  in  popular  language,  *  the 
air, '  that  for  miles  around  the  rotation  of  this  fan  regulates 
the  circulation,  modifies  extremes,  annihilates  sterility,  and 
makes  it  quite  impossible  for  moss  and  green  scum,  and  all 
this  sour  growth  to  live.  Even  you  can  see,  Mary,  how 
beautiful  it  is. ' ' 

"  Yes,  that  I  can  !M  she  answered  simply,  as  they  turned 
the  corner  upon  a  large  windmill,  with  arms  revolving  mer- 
rily ;  "  but,  Willie,  dear,  would  not  Farmer  Topping's 
mill,  perpetually  going  as  it  is,  answer  the  same  purpose  ? 
And  yet  the  moss  seems  to  be  as  thick  as  ever  here,  and 
the  ground  as  naked  !" 

"  Tfihh  !"  cried  Willie.  "  Stuff  and  nonsense  !  When 
will  you  girls  understand  ?  Good-by  !  I  will  throw  away 
no  more  time  on  you." 

Without  stopping  to  finish  his  sentence  he  was  off,  and 
out  of  sight  both  of  the  mill  and  Mary,  before  the  poor  girl, 
who  had  not  the  least  intention  of  offending  him,  could 
even  beg  his  pardon,  or  say  how  much  she  wanted  him  ;  for 
she  had  not  dared  as  yet  to  tell  him  what  was  the  purpose 
of  her  walk,  his  nature  being  such  that  no  one,  not  even  his 
own  mother,  could  tell  what  conclusion  he  might  come  to 
upon  any  practical  question.  He  might  rush  off  at  once  to 
put  the  revenue-men  on  the  smuggler's  track  ;  or  he  might 
stop  his  sister  from  going  ;  or  he  might  (in  the  absence  of 
his  father)  order  a  feast  to  be  prepared  and  fetch  the  out- 
law to  be  his  guest.  So  Mary  had  resolved  not  to  tell  him 
until  the  last  moment,  when  he  could  do  none  of  these 
things. 

But  now  she  must  either  go  on  all  alone  or  give  up  her 
purpose  and  break  her  promise.  After  some  hesitation  she 
determined  to  go  on,  for  the  place  would  scarcely  seem  so 
very  lonely  now  with  the  windmill  in  view,  which  would 
always  remind  her  henceforth  of  her  dear  brother  Wil- 


IN"   A   LAKE,    NOT   ALONE.  95 

Ham.  It  was  perfectly  certain  that  Captain  Robin  Lyth, 
whose  fame  for  chivalry  was  everywhere,  and  whose  char- 
acter was  all  in  all  to  him  with  the  ladies  who  bought 
his  silks  and  lace,  would  see  her  through  all  danger 
caused  by  confidence  in  him  ;  and  really  it  was  too  bad  of 
her  to  admit  any  paltry  misgivings.  But,  reason  as  she 
might,  her  young  conscience  told  her  that  this  was  not  the 
proper  thing  for  her  to  do  ;  and  she  made  up  her  mind  not 
to  do  it  again.  Then  she  laughed  at  the  notion  of  being 
ever  even  asked,  and  told  herself  that  she  was  too  con- 
ceited ;  and,  to  cut  the  matter  short,  went  very  bravely 
down  the  hill. 

The  lane,  which  came  winding  from  the  beach  up  to  the 
windmill,  was  as  pretty  a  lane  as  may  anywhere  be  found  in 
any  other  county  than  that  of  Devon.  With  a  Devonshire 
lane  it  could  not  presume  to  vie,  having  little  of  the  glorious 
garniture  of  fern,  and  nothing  of  the  crystal  brook  that 
leaps  at  every  corner  ;  no  arches  of  tall  ash,  keyed  with 
dog-rose,  and  not  much  of  honeysuckle,  and  a  sight  of 
other  wants  which  people  feel  who  have  lived  in  the  pleni- 
tude of  everything.  But,  in  spite  of  all  that,  the  lane  was 
very  fine  for  Yorkshire. 

On  the  other  hand,  Mary  had  prettier  ankles,  and  a  more 
graceful  and  lighter  walk  than  the  Devonshire  lanes,  which 
like  to  echo  something,  for  the  most  part  seem  accustomed 
to  ;  and  the  short  dress  of  the  time  made  good  such  favor- 
able facts  when  found.  Nor  was  this  all  that  could  be  said, 
for  the  maiden  (while  her  mother  was  so  busy  pickling  cab- 
bage, from  which  she  drove  all  intruders)  had  managed  to 
forget  what  the  day  of  the  week  was,  and  had  opened  the 
drawer  that  should  be  locked  up  until  Sunday.  To  walk 
with  such  a  handsome  tall  fellow  as  Willie  compelled  her 
to  look  like  something  too  ;  and  without  any  thought  of  it 
she  put  her  best  hat  on,  and  a  very  pretty  thing  with  some 
French  name,  and  made  of  a  delicate  peach-colored  silk, 
which  came  down  over  her  bosom,  and  tied  in  the  neatest 
of  knots  at  the  small  of  her  back,  which  at  that  time  of  life 
was  very  small.  All  these  were  the  gifts  of  her  dear  Uncle 
Popplewell,  upon  the  other  side  of  Filcy,  who  might  have 
been  married  for  forty  years,  but  nobody  knew  how  long  it 


96  MARY  AKERLEY. 

was,  because  he  had  no  children,  and  so  he  made  Mary  his 
darling.  And  this  ancient  gentleman  had  leanings  toward 
free-trade. 

Whether  these  goods  were  French  or  not — which  no 
decent  person  could  think  of  asking — no  French  damsel 
could  have  put  them  on  better,  or  shown  a  more  pleasing 
appearance  in  them  ;  for  Mary's  desire  was  to  please  all 
people  who  meant  no  harm  to  her — as  nobody  could — and 
yet  to  let  them  kno\v  that  her  object  was  only  to  do  what 
was  right,  and  to  never  think  of  asking  whether  she  looked 
this,  that,  or  the  other.  Her  mother,  as  a  matter  of  duty, 
told  her  how  plain  she  was  almost  every  day  ;  but  the  girl 
was  not  of  that  opinion  ;  and  when  Mrs.  Anerley  finished 
her  lecture  (as  she  did  nine  times  in  ten)  by  turning  the 
glass  to  the  wall,  and  declaring  that  beauty  was  a  snare 
skin-deep,  with  a  frown  of  warning  instead  of  a  smile  of 
comfort,  then  Mary  believed  in  her  looking-glass  again,  and 
had  the  smile  of  comfort  on  her  own  face. 

However,  she  never  thought  of  that  just  now,  but  only 
of  how  she  could  do  her  duty,  and  have  no  trouble  in  her 
own  mind  with  thinking,  and  satisfy  her  father  when  she 
told  him  all,  as  she  meant  to  do,  when  there  could  be  no 
harm  done  to  any  one  ;  and  this,  as  she  heartily  hoped, 
would  be  to-morrow.  And  truly,  if  there  did  exist  any 
vanity  at  all,  it  was  not  confined  to  the  sex  in  which  it  is  so 
much  more  natural  and  comely. 

For  when  a  very  active  figure  came  to  light  suddenly,  at  a 
little  elbow  of  the  lane,  and  with  quick  steps  advanced  tow- 
ard Mary,  she  was  lost  in  surprise  at  the  gayety,  not  to  say 
grandeur,  of  its  apparel.  A  broad  hat,  looped  at  the  side, 
and  having  a  pointed  black  crown,  with  a  scarlet  feather, 
and  a  dove-colored  brim,  sat  well  upon  the  mass  of  crisp 
black  curls.  A  short  blue  jacket  of  the  finest  Flemish 
cloth,  and  set  (not  too  thickly)  with  embossed  silver  but- 
tons, left  properly  open  the  strong  brown  neck,  while  a 
shirt  of  pale  blue  silk,  with  a  turned-down  collar  of  fine 
needlework,  fitted,  without  a  wrinkle  or  a  pucker,  the  broad 
and  amply  rounded  chest.  Then  a  belt  of  brown  leather, 
with  an  anchor  clasp,  and  empty  loops  for  either  fire-arm  or 
steel,  supported  true  sailor's  trousers  of  the  purest  white 


IN   A    LANE,    NOT   ALONE.  97 

and  the  noblest  man-of-war  cut  ;  and  where  these  widened 
at  the  instep  shone  a  lovely  pair  of  pumps,  with  buckles 
radiant  of  best  Bristol  diamonds.  The  wearer  of  all  these 
splendors  smiled,  and  seemed  to  become  them  as  they  be- 
came him. 

"  Well,"  thought  Mary,  "  how  free-trade  must  pay  ! 
What  a  pity  that  he  is  not  in  the  Royal  Navy  !" 

With  his  usual  quickness,  and  the  self-esteem  which 
added  such  lustre  to  his  character,  the  smuggler  perceived 
what  was  passing  in  her  mind,  but  he  was  not  rude  enough 
to  say  so. 

'*  Young  lady,"  he  began — and  Mary,  with  all  her  wis- 
dom, could  not  help  being  fond  of  that  ;  "  young  lady,  I 
was  quite  sure  that  you  would  keep  your  word." 

"  I  never  do  anything  else,"  she  answered,  showing  that 
she  scarcely  looked  at  him  ;  "  I  have  found  this  for  you, 
and  then  good-by. ' 9 

lt  Surely  you  will  wait  to  hear  my  thanks,  and  to  know 
what  made  me  dare  to  ask  you,  after  all  you  had  done  for 
me  already,  to  begin  again  for  me.  But  I  am  such  an 
outcast  that  I  never  should  have  done  it." 

"  I  never  saw  any  one  look  more  thoroughly  unlike  an 
outcast,"  Mary  said  ;  and  then  she  was  angry  with  herself 
for  speaking,  and  glancing,  and,  worst  of  all,  for  smiling. 

"  Ladies  who  live  on  land  can  never  understand  what  we 
go  through,"  Robin  replied  in  his  softest  voice,  as  rich  as 
the  murmur  of  the  summer  sea  ;  "  when  we  expect  great 
honors,  we  try  to  look  a  little  tidy,  as  any  one  but  a  com- 
mon boor  would  do  ;  and  we  laugh  at  ourselves  for  trying 
to  look  well  after  all  the  knocking  about  we  get.  Our  time 
is  short — we  must  make  the  most  of  it." 

"  Oh,  please  not  to  talk  in  such  a  dreadful  way  !"  said 
Mary. 

"  You  remind  me  of  my  dear  friend  Dr.  Upround,  the 
very  best  man  in  the  whole  world,  I  believe.  He  always 
says  to  me,  '  Robin,  Robin — '  ' 

u  What,  is  Dr.  Upandown  a  friend  of  yours?"  Mary 
exclaimed  in  amazement,  and  with  a  stoppage  of  the  foot 
that  was  poised  for  quick  departure. 

"  Dr.  Upandown,  as  many  people  call  him,"  said  the 
7 


98  MARY    ANERLEY. 

smuggler,  with  a  tone  of  condemnation,  "  is  the  best  and 
dearest  friend  I  have,  next  to  Captain  and  Mistress  Cocks- 
croft,  who  may  have  been  heard  of  at  Anerley  Manor.  Dr. 
Upround  is  our  magistrate  and  clergyman,  and  he  lets  peo- 
ple say  what  they  like  against  me,  while  he  honors  me  with 
his  friendship.  I  must  not  stay  long,  to  thank  you  even, 
because  I  am  going  to  the  dear  old  doctor's,  for  supper  at 
seven  o'clock,  and  a  game  of  chess.'7 

"  Oh  dear,  oh  dear  !  And  he  is  such  a  justice  ;  and 
yet  they  shot  at  you  last  week  !  It  makes  me  wonder 
when  I  hear  such  things." 

44  Young  lady,  it  makes  everybody  wonder.  In  my  opin- 
ion there  never  could  be  a  more  shameful  murder  than  to 
shoot  me  ;  and  yet  but  for  you,  it  would  surely  have  been 
done." 

44  You  must  not  dwell  upon  such  things,"  said  Mary  ; 
44  they  may  have  a  very  bad  effect  upon  your  mind.  But 
good-by,  Captain  Lyth  ;  I  forgot  that  I  was  robbing  Dr. 
IJpround  of  your  society." 

44  Shall  I  be  so  ungrateful  as  not  to  see  you  safe  upon 
your  own  land,  after  all  your  trouble  ?  My  road  to  Flam- 
borough  lies  that  way.  Surely  you  will  not  refuse  to  hear 
what  made  me  so  anxious  about  this  bauble,  which  now  will 
be  worth  ten  times  as  much.  I  never  saw  it  look  so  bright 
before." 

' '  It — it  must  be  the  sand  has  made  it  shine, ' '  the  maiden 
stammered,  with  a  fine  bright  blush  ;  "  it  does  the  same  to 
my  shrimping-net." 

44  Ah,  shrimping  is  a  very  fine  pursuit  !  There  is  noth- 
ing I  love  better  ;  what  pools  I  could  show  you,  if  I  only 
might  ;  pools  where  you  may  fill  a  sack  with  large  prawns 
in  a  single  tide — pools  known  to  nobody  but  myself. 
When  do  you  think  of  going  shrimping  next  r<" 

"'  Perhaps  next  summer  I  may  try  again,  if  Captain  Car- 
roway  will  come  with  me." 

44  That  is  too  unkind  of  you.  How  very  harsh  you  are 
to  me  !  I  could  hardly  have  believed  it,  after  all  that  you 
have  done.  And  you  really  do  not  care  to  hear  the  story 
of  this  relic  ?" 

44  If  I  could  stop,  I  should  like  it  very  much.     But  my 


IN   A   LANE,    NOT   ALONE.  99 

brother,  who  came  with  me,  may  perhaps  be  waiting  for 
me."  Mary  knew  that  this  was  not  very  likely  ;  still  it  was 
just  possible,  for  Willie's  ill-tempers  seldom  lasted  very 
long  ;  and  she  wanted  to  let  the  smuggler  know  that  she 
had  not  come  all  alone  to  meet  him. 

"  I  shall  not  be  two  minutes,"  Robin  Lyth  replied  ;  "  I 
have  been  forced  to  learn  short  talking.  May  I  tell  you 
about  this  trinket?" 

"  Yes,  if  you  will  only  begin  at  once,  and  finish  by  the 
time  we  get  to  that  corner." 

"  That  is  very  short  measure  for  a  tale,"  said  Robin, 
though  he  liked  her  all  the  better  for  such  qualities  ; 
"  however,  I  will  try  ;  only  walk  a  little  slower.  Nobody 
knows  where  I  was  born,  any  more  than  they  know  how  or 
why.  Only  when  I  came  upon  this  coast  as  a  very  little 
boy,  and  without  knowing  anything  about  it,  they  say  that  I 
had  very  wonderful  buttons  of  gold  upon  a  linen  dress, 
adorned  with  gold  lace,  which  I  used  to  wear  on  Sundays. 
Dr.  Upround  ordered  them  to  keep  those  buttons,  and  was 
to  have  had  them  in  his  own  care  ;  but  before  that,  all  of 
them  were  lost  save  two.  My  parents,  as  I  call  them  from 
their  wonderful  goodness,  kinder  than  the  ones  who  have 
turned  me  on  the  world  (unless  themselves  went  out  of  it), 
resolved  to  have  my  white  coat  done  up  grandly,  when  I 
grew  too  big  for  it,  and  to  lay  it  by  in  lavender  ;  and 
knowing  of  a  great  man  in  the  gold-lace  trade,  as  far  away 
as  Scarborough,  they  sent  it  by  a  fishing-smack  to  him, 
with  people  whom  they  knew  thoroughly.  That  was  the 
last  of  it  ever  known  here.  The  man  swore  a  manifest  that 
he  never  saw  it,  and  threatened  them  with  libel  ;  and  the 
smack  was  condemned,  and  all  her  hands  impressed,  be- 
cause of  some  trifle  she  happened  to  carry  ;  and  nobody 
knows  any  more  of  it.  But  two  of  the  buttons  had  fallen 
off,  and  good  mother  had  put  them  by,  to  give  a  last  finish 
to  the  coat  herself  ;  and  when  I  grew  up  and  had  to  go  to 
sea  at  night,  they  were  turned  into  a  pair  of  ear-rings. 
There,  now,  Miss  Anerley,  I  have  not  been  long,  and  you 
know  all  about  it." 

"  How  very  very  lonesome  it  must  be  for  you,1'  said 
Mary,  with  a  gentle  gaze,  which,  coming  from  such  lovely 


100  MARY   AKERLEY. 

eyes,  went  straight  into  his  heart,  "  to  have  no  one  belong- 
ing to  you  by  right,  and  to  seem  to  belong  to  nobody.  I 
am  sure  I  cannot  tell  what  ever  I  should  do,  without  any 
father,  or  mother,  or  uncle,  or  even  a  cousin  to  be  certain 
of.'7 

11  All  the  ladies  seem  to  think  that  it  is  rather  hard  upon 
me,"  Robin  answered,  with  an  excellent  effort  at  a  sigh  ; 
"  but  1  do  my  very  best  to  get  on  without  them.  And  one 
thing  that  helps  me  most  of  all  is  when  kind  ladies,  who 
have  good  hearts,  allow  me  to  talk  to  them  as  if  I  had  a  sis- 
ter. This  makes  me  forget  what  I  am  sometimes." 

"  You  never  should  try  to  forget  what  you  are.  Every- 
body in  the  world  speaks  well  of  you.  Even  that  cruel 
Lieutenant  Carroway  cannot  help  admiring  you.  And  if 
you  have  taken  to  free-trade,  what  else  could  you  do,  when 
you  had  no  friends,  and  even  your  coat  was  stolen  ?" 

"  High-minded  people  take  that  view  of  it,  I  know. 
But  I  do  not  pretend  to  any  such  excuse.  I  took  to  free- 
trade  for  the  sake  of  my  friends — to  support  the  old  couple 
who  have  been  so  good  to  me." 

"  That  is  better  still  ;  it  shows  such  good  principle.  My 
Uncle  Popplewell  has  studied  the  subject  of  what  they  call 
4  political  economy/  and  he  says  that  the  country  requires 
free-trade,  and  the  only  way  to  get  it  is  to  go  on  so  that  the 
government  must  give  way  at  last.  However,  I  need  not 
instruct  you  about  that  ;  and  you  must  not  stop  any 
longer." 

44  Miss  Anerley,  I  will  not  encroach  upon  your  kindness. 
You  have  said  things  that  I  never  shall  forget.  On  the 
continent  I  meet  very  many  ladies  who  tell  me  good  things, 
and  make  me  better  ;  but  not  at  all  as  you  have  done.  A 
minute  of  talk  with  you  is  worth  an  hour  with  anybody 
else.  But  I  fear  that  you  laugh  at  me  all  the  while,  and 
are  only  too  glad  to  be  rid  of  me.  Good-by.  May  I  kiss 
your  hand  ?  God  bless  you  !" 

Mary  had  no  time  to  say  a  single  word,  or  even  to  ex- 
press her  ideas  by  a  look,  before  Robin  Lyth,  with  all  his 
bright  apparel,  was  "  conspicuous  by  his  absence."  As  a 
diving  bird  disappears  from  a  gun,  or  a  trout  from  a  shadow 
on  his  hover,  or  even  a  debtor  from  his  creditor,  so  the 


GRUMBLING   AND   GROWLING.  101 

great  free-trader  had  vanished  into  lightsome  air,  and  left 
emptiness  behind  him. 

The  young  maid,  having  been  prepared  to  yield  him  a 
few  yards  more  of  good  advice,  if  he  held  out  for  another 
corner,  now  could  only  say  to  herself  that  she  never  had 
met  such  a  wonderful  man.  So  active,  strong,  and  aston- 
ishingly brave  ;  so  thoroughly  acquainted  with  foreign 
lands,  yet  superior  to  their  ladies  ;  so  able  to  see  all  the 
meaning  of  good  words,  and  to  value  them  when  offered 
quietly  ;  so  sweet  in  his  manner,  and  voice,  and  looks  ; 
and  with  all  his  fame  so  unpretending  ;  and — much  as  it 
frightened  her  to  think  it — really  seeming  to  be  afraid  of 
her. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

GRUMBLING    AND    GROWLING. 

WHILE  these  successful  runs  went  on,  and  great  author- 
ities smiled  at  seeing  the  little  authorities  set  at  naught,  and 
men  of  the  revenue  smote  their  breasts  for  not  being  born 
good  smugglers,  and  the  general  public  was  well-pleased, 
and  congratulated  them  cordially  upon  their  accomplishment 
of  naught,  one  man  there  was  whose  noble  spirit  chafed  and 
knew  no  comfort.  He  strode  up  and  down  at  Coast-guard 
Point,  and  communed  with  himself,  while  Robin  held  sweet 
converse  in  the  lane. 

"  Why  was  I  born  ?"  the  sad  Carroway  cried  ;  u  why 
was  I  thoroughly  educated,  and  trained  in  both  services  of 
the  king,  expected  to  rise,  and  beginning  to  rise,  till  a  vile 
bit  of  splinter  stopped  me  ;  and  then  sent  down  to  this  hole 
of  a  place  to  starve,  and  be  laughed  at,  and  baffled  by  a 
boy  ?  Another  lucky  run,  and  the  revenue  bamboozled, 
and  the  whole  of  us  sent  upon  a  wild-goose  chase  !  Every 
gapper-mouth  zany  grinning  at  me,  and  scoundrels  swear- 
ing that  I  get  my  share  !  And  the  only  time  I  have  had 
my  dinner  with  my  knees  crook' d,  for  at  least  a  fortnight, 
was  at  Anerley  Farm  on  Sunday.  I  am  not  sure  that  even 
they  wouldn't  turn  against  me  ;  I  am  certain  that  pretty 


102  MARY   ASTERLEY. 

girl  would.  I've  a  great  mind  to  throw  it  up — a  great  mind 
to  throw  it  up.  It  is  hardly  the  work  for  a  gentleman  born, 
and  the  grandson  of  a  rear-admiral.  Tinkers'  and  tailors' 
sons  get  the  luck  now  ;  and  a  man  of  good  blood  is  put  on 
the  back-shelf,  behind  the  blacking-bottles.  A  man  who 
has  battled  for  his  country — " 

u  Charles,  are  you  coming  to  your  dinner,  once  more  ?" 

"  No,  I  am  not.  There's  no  dinner  worth  coming  to. 
You  and  the  children  may  eat  the  rat-pie.  A  man  who  has 
battled  for  his  country,  and  bled  till  all  his  veins  were 
empty,  and  it  took  two  men  to  hold  him  up,  and  yet  waved 
his  sword  at  the  head  of  them — it  is  the  downright  contra- 
diction of  the  world  in  everything  for  him  to  poke  about 
with  pots  and  tubs,  like  a  pig  in  a  brewery,  grain-hunt- 
ing. " 

"  Once  more,  Charles,  there  is  next  to  nothing  left.  The 
children  are  eating  for  their  very  lives.  If  you  stay  out 
there  another  minute  you  must  take  the  consequence. ' ' 

"  Alas,  that  I  should  combine  capacity  with  incapability  ! 
My  dear,  put  a  little  bit  under  a  basin,  if  any  of  them  has 
no  appetite.  I  wanted  just  to  think  a  little. " 

"  Charles,  they  have  all  got  tremendous  appetites.  It  is 
the  way  the  wind  is.  You  may  think  by  and  by  ;  but  if 
you  want  to  eat,  you  must  do  it  now,  or  never." 

"  '  Never'  never  suits  me  in  that  matter,"  the  brave 
lieutenant  answered  ;  "  Matilda,  put  Geraldine  to  warm  the 
pewter  plate  for  me.  Geraldine,  darling,  you  can  do  it 
with  your  mouth  full." 

The  commander  of  the  coast-guard  turned  abruptly  from 
his  long  indignant  stride,  and  entered  the  cottage  provided 
for  him,  and  which  he  had  peopled  so  speedily. 

Small  as  it  was,  it  looked  beautifully  clean  and  neat, 
and  everybody  used  to  wonder  how  Mrs.  Carroway  kept  it 
so.  But  in  spite  of  all  her  troubles  and  many  complaints, 
she  was  very  proud  of  this  little  house,  with  its  healthful 
position,  and  beautiful  outlook  over  the  bay  of  Bridlington. 
It  stood  in  a  niche  of  the  low  soft  cliff,  where  now  the  sea- 
parade  extends  from  the  northern  pier  of  Bridlington 
Quay  ;  and  when  the  roadstead  between  that  and  the  point 
was  filled  with  a  fleet  of  every  kind  of  craft,  or  better  still 


AHD   GROWLING.  103 

when  they  all  made  sail  at  once — as  happened  when  a  trusty 
breeze  arose — the  view  was  lively,  and  very  pleasant,  and 
full  of  moving  interest.  Often  one  of  his  Majesty's  cutters, 
Swordfish,  Kestrel,  or  Albatross,  would  swoop  in  with  all 
sail  set,  and  hover,  while  the  skipper  came  ashore  to  see 
the  "  Ancient  Cairo  way,"  as  this  vigilant  officer  was 
called  ;  and  sometimes  even  a  sloop-of-war,  armed  brigan- 
tine,  or  light  corvette,  prowling  for  recruits,  or  cruising  for 
their  training,  would  run  in  under  the  Head,  and  overhaul 
every  wind-bound  ship  with  a  very  high  hand. 

"  Ancient  Carroway,"  as  old  friends  called  him,  and 
even  young  people  who  had  never  seen  him,  was  famous 
upon  this  coast  now,  for  nearly  three  degrees  of  latitude. 
He  had  dwelled  here  long,  and  in  highly  good  content, 'hos- 
pitably treated  by  his  neighbors,  and  himself  more  hospita- 
ble than  his  wife  could  wish.  Until  two  troubles  in  his  life 
arose,  and  from  year  to  year  grew  worse  and  worse.  One 
of  these  troubles  was  the  growth  of  mouths,  in  number  and 
size,  that  required  to  be  filled  ;  and  the  other  trouble  was 
the  rampant  growth  of  smuggling,  and  the  glory  of  that  up- 
start Robin  Lyth.  Now  let  it  be  lawful  to  take  that  sub- 
ject first. 

Fair  Robin,  though  not  at  all  anxious  for  fame,  but  mod- 
estly willing  to  decline  it,  had  not  been  successful — though 
he  worked  so  much  by  night — in  preserving  sweet  obscuri- 
ty. His  character  was  public,  and  set  on  high  by  fortune, 
to  be  gazed  at  from  wholly  different  points  of  view.  From 
their  narrow  and  lime-eyed  outlook  the  coast-guard  beheld 
in  him  the  latest  incarnation  of  Old  Nick  ;  yet  they  hated 
him  only  in  an  abstract  manner,  and  as  men  feel  toward 
that  evil  one.  Magistrates  also,  and  the  large  protective 
powers,  were  arrayed  against  him,  yet  happy  to  abstain 
from  laying  hands,  when  their  hands  were  their  own,  upon 
him.  And  many  of  the  farmers,  who  should  have  been  his 
warmest  friends  and  best  customers,  were  now  so  attached 
to  their  king  and  country,  by  bellicose  warmth  and  army- 
contracts,  that  instead  of  a  guinea  for  a  four-gallon  anker, 
they  would  offer  three  crowns,  or  the  exciseman.  And  not 
only  conscience,  but  short  cash,  after  three  bad  harvests, 
constrained  them. 


104  MARY   ANERLEY. 

Yet  the  staple  of  public  opinion  was  sound,  as  it  must  be 
where  women  predominate.  The  best  of  women  could  not 
see  why  they  should  not  have  anything  they  wanted,  for 
less  than  it  cost  the  maker.  To  gaze  at  a  sister  woman  bet- 
ter dressed,  at  half  the  money,  was  simply  to  abjure  every 
lofty  principle.  And  to  go  to  church  with  a  counterfeit 
on,  when  the  genuine  lace  was  in  the  next  pew,  on  a  body 
of  inferior  standing,  was  a  downright  outrage  to  the  congre- 
gation, the  rector,  and  all  religion.  A  cold-blooded  creat- 
ure, with  no  pin-money,  might  reconcile  it  with  her  prin- 
ciples, if  any  she  had,  to  stand  up  like  a  dowdy,  and  allow 
a  poor  man  to  risk  his  life,  by  shot  and  storm  and  starvation, 
and  then  to  deny  him  a  word  or  a  look,  because  of  his  com- 
ing with  the  genuine  thing,  at  a  quarter  the  price  fat  trades- 
men asked,  who  never  stirred  out  of  their  shops  when  it 
rained,  for  a  thing  that  was  a  story  and  an  imposition. 
Charity,  duty,  and  common  honesty  to  their  good  hus- 
bands, in  these  bad  times,  compelled  them  to  make  the  very 
best  of  bargains  ;  of  which  they  got  really  more  and  more, 
as  those  brave  mariners  themselves  bore  witness,  because  of 
the  depression  in  the  free-trade  now,  and  the  glorious  vic- 
tories of  England.  Were  they  bound  to  pay  three  times  the 
genuine  value,  and  then  look  a  figure,  and  be  laughed  at  ? 

And  as  for  Captain  Carroway,  let  him  scold,  arid  threat- 
en, and  stride  about,  and  be  jealous,  because  his  wife  dare 
not  buy  true  things,  poor  creature — although  there  were 
two  stories  also  about  that,  and  the  quantities  of  things 
that  he  got  for  nothing,  whenever  he  was  clever  enough  to 
catch  them,  which  scarcely  ever  happened,  thank  goodness  ! 
Let  Captain  Carroway  attend  to  his  own  business  ;  unless  he 
was  much  belied,  he  had  a  wife  who  would  keep  him  to  it. 
Who  was  Captain  Carroway  to  come  down  here,  without 
even  being  born  in  Yorkshire,  and  lay  down  the  law,  as  if 
he  owned  the  manor  ? 

Lieutenant  Carroway  had  heard  such  questions,  but  dis- 
dained to  answer  them.  He  knew  who  he  was,  and  what 
his  grandfather  had  been,  and  he  never  cared  a — short 
word,  what  sort  of  stuff  long  tongues  might  prate  of  him. 
Barbarous  broad-drawlers,  murderers  of  his  Majesty's  Eng- 
lish, could  they  even  pronounce  the  name  of  an  officer 


GRUMBLING   AND   GROWLING.  105 

highly  distinguished  for  many  years  in  both  of  the  royal 
services  ?  That  was  his  description,  and  the  Yorkshire 
yokels  might  go  and  read  it — if  read  they  could — in  the 
pages  of  authority. 

Like  the  celebrated  calf  that  sucked  two  cows,  Carroway 
had  drawn  royal  pay,  though  in  very  small  drains,  upon 
either  element,  beginning  with  a  skeleton  regiment,  and 
then,  when  he  became  too  hot  for  it,  diving  off  into  a 
frigate,  as  a  recommended  volunteer.  Here  he  was  more 
at  home,  though  he  never  ceased  longing  to  be  a  general  ; 
and  having  the  credit  of  fighting  well  ashore,  he  was  looked 
at  with  interest  when  he  fought  a  fight  at  sea.  He  fought 
it  uncommonly  well,  and  it  was  good,  and  so  many  men  fell 
that  he  picked  up  his  commission,  and  got  into  a  fifty-two- 
gun  ship.  After  several  years  of  service,  without  promo- 
tion, for  his  grandfather's  name  was  worn  out  now,  and  the 
wars  were  not  properly  constant,  there  came  a  very  lively 
succession  of  fights,  and  Carroway  got  into  all  of  them,  or 
at  least  into  all  the  best  of  them.  And  he  ought  to  have 
gone  up  much  faster  than  he  did,  and  he  must  have  done 
so  but  for  his  long  lean  jaws,  the  which  are  the  worst  things 
that  any  man  can  have.  Not  only  because  of  their  own 
consumption,  and  slow  length  of  leverage,  but  mainly  on 
account  of  the  sadness  they  impart,  and  the  timid  recollec- 
tion of  a  hungry  wolf,  to  the  man  who  might  have  lifted  up 
a  fatter  individual. 

But  in  Rodney's  great  encounter  with  the  Spanish  fleet, 
Carroway  showed  such  a  dauntless  spirit,  and  received  such 
a  wound,  that  it  was  impossible  not  to  pay  him  some  atten- 
tion. His  name  was  near  the  bottom  of  a  very  long  list, 
but  it  made  a  mark  an  some  one's  memory,  depositing  a 
chanec  of  coming  up  some  day,  when  he  should  be  reported 
hit  again.  And  so  good  was  his  luck,  that  he  soon  was  hit 
again,  and  a  very  bad  hit  it  was  ;  but  still  he  got  over  it 
without  promotion,  because  that  enterprise  was  one  in 
which  nearly  all  our  men  ran  away,  and  therefore  required 
to  be  well  pushed  up,  for  the  sake  of  the  national  honor. 
When  such  things  happened,  the  few  who  stay  behind  must 
be  left  behind  in  the  Gazette  as  well.  That  wound,  there- 
fore, seemed  at  first  to  go  against  him,  but  he  bandaged  it, 


106  MARY   AKERLEY. 

and  plastered  it,  and  hoped  for  better  luck.  And  his  third 
wound  truly  was  a  blessed  one,  a  slight  one,  and  taken  in 
the  proper  course  of  things,  without  a  slur  upon  any  of  his 
comrades.  This  set  him  up  again  with  advancement  and 
appointment,  and  enabled  him  to  marry  and  have  children 
seven. 

The  lieutenant  was  now  about  fifty  years  of  age,  gallant 
and  lively  as  ever,  and  resolute  to  attend  to  his  duty  and 
himself  as  well.  His  duty  was  now  alongshore,  in  com- 
mand of  the  coast-guard  of  the  East  District  ;  for  the  loss 
of  a  good  deal  of  one  heel  made  it  hard  for  him  to  step 
about  as  he  should  do  when  afloat.  The  place  suited  him, 
and  he  was  fond  of  it,  although  he  grumbled  sometimes 
about  his  grandfather,  and  went  on  as  if  his  office  was  be- 
neath him.  He  abused  all  his  men,  and  all  the  good  ones 
liked  him,  and  respected  him  for  his  clear  English. 
And  he  enjoyed  this  free  exercise  of  language  out  of  doors, 
because  inside  his  threshold  he  was  on  his  P's  and  Q's.  To 
call  him  "  ugly  Carroway, "  as  coarse  people  did,  because 
of  a  scar  across  his  long  bold  nose,  was  petty  and  unjust, 
and  directly  contradicted  by  his  own  and  his  wife's  opinion. 
For  nobody  could  have  brighter  eyes,  or  a  kindlier  smile, 
and  more  open  aspect  in  the  forepart  of  the  week,  while  his 
Sunday  shave  retained  its  influence,  so  far  as  its  limited 
area  went,  for  he  kept  a  long  beard  always.  By  Wednes- 
day he  certainly  began  to  look  grim,  and  on  Saturday  fero- 
cious, pending  the  advent  of  the  Bridlington  barber,  who 
shaved  all  the  Quay  every  Sunday.  But  his  mind  was  none 
the  worse,  and  his  daughters  liked  him  better,  when  he 
rasped  their  young  cheeks  with  his  beard,  and  paid  a 
penny.  For  to  his  children  he  was  a  most  loving  and  ten- 
der-hearted father,  puzzled  at  their  number,  and  sometimes 
perplexed  at  having  to  feed  and  clothe  them,  yet  happy  to 
give  them  his  last  and  go  without,  and  even  ready  to  wel- 
come more,  if  Heaven  should  be  pleased  to  send  them. 

But  Mrs.  Carroway,  most  fidgety  of  women,  and  born  of 
a  well-shorn  family,  was  unhappy  from  the  middle  to  the 
end  of  the  week  that  she  could  not  scrub  her  husband's 
beard  off.  This  lady's  sense  of  human  crime,  and  of  every- 
thing hateful  in  creation,  expressed  itself  mainly  in  the 


GRUMBLING   AND   GROWLING.  107 

word  "  dirt."  Her  rancor  against  that  nobly  tranquil  and 
most  natural  of  elements  inured  itself  into  a  downright  pas- 
sion. From  babyhood  she  had  been  notorious  for  kicking 
her  little  legs  out  at  the  least  speck  of  dust  upon  a  tiny  red 
shoe.  Her  father,  a  clergyman,  heard  so  much  of  this,  and 
had  so  many  children  of  a  different  stamp,  that  when  he 
came  to  christen  her,  at  six  months  of  age  (which  used  to 
be  considered  quite  an  early  time  of  life),  he  put  upon  her 
the  name  of  "  Lauta, "  to  which  she  thoroughly  acted  up  ; 
but  people  having  ignorance  of  foreign  tongues,  said  that  he 
always  meant  u  Matilda." 

Such  was  her  nature,  and  it  grew  upon  her  ;  so  that 
when  a  young  and  gallant  officer,  tall  and  fresh,  and  as 
clean  as  a  frigate,  was  captured  by  her  neat  bright  eyes, 
very  clean  run,  and  sharp  cut- water,  she  began  to  like  to 
look  at.  him.  Before  very  long,  his  spruce  trim  ducks,  care- 
ful scrape  of  Brunswick-leather  boots,  clean  pocket-hand- 
kerchiefs, and  fine  specklessness,  were  making  and  keeping 
a  well-swept  path  to  the  thoroughly- dusted  store-room  of 
her  heart.  How  little  she  dreamed,  in  those  virgin  days, 
that  the  future  could  ever  contain  a  week  when  her  Charles 
would  decline  to  shave  more  than  once,  and  then  have  it 
done  for  him  on  a  Sunday  ! 

She  hesitated,  for  she  had  her  thoughts — doubts  she  dis- 
dained to  call  them  —but  still  he  forgot  once  to  draw  his 
boots  sideways  after  having  purged  the  toe  and  heel,  across 
the  bristle  of  her  father's  mat:  With  the  quick  eye  of 
love,  he  perceived  her  frown,  and  the  very  next  day  he  con- 
quered her.  His  scheme  was  unworthy,  as  it  substituted 
corporate  for  personal  purity  ;  still  it  succeeded,  as  unwor- 
thy schemes  will  do.  On  the  birthday  of  his  sacred  Maj- 
esty, Charles  took  Matilda  to  see  his  ship,  the  4 8 -gun  frig- 
ate Immaculate,  commanded  by  a  well-known  martinet. 
Her  spirit  fell  within  her,  like  the  Queen  of  Sheba's,  as  she 
gazed,  but  trembled  to  set  down  foot  upon  the  trim  order 
and  the  dazzling  choring.  She  might  have  survived  the 
strict  purity  of  all  things,  the  deck-lines  whiter  than 
Parian  marble,  the  bulwarks  brighter  than  the  cheek-piece 
of  a  grate,  the  breeches  of  the  guns  like  goodly  gold, 
and  not  a  whisker  of  a  rope's  end  curling  the  wrong  way  ; 


108  MARY   AKERLEY. 

if  only  she  could  have  espied  a  swab,  or  a  bucket,  or  a  flake 
of  holystone,  or  any  inclicament  of  labor  done.  "  Artis 
est  celare  artem  ;"  this  art  was  unfathomable. 

Matilda  was  fain  to  assure  herself  that  the  main  part  of 
this  might  be  superficial,  like  a  dish-cover  polished  with 
the  spots  on,  and  she  lost  her  handkerchief  on  purpose  to 
come  back  and  try  a  little  test-work  of  her  own.  This  was 
a  piece  of  unstopped  knotting  in  the  panel  of  a  hatchway, 
a  resinous  hole  that  must  catch  and  keep  any  speck  of  dust 
meandering  on  the  wayward  will  of  wind.  Her  cambric 
came  out  as  white  as  it  went  in  ! 

She  surrendered  at  discretion,  and  became  the  prize  of 
Carroway. 

Now  people  at  Bridlington  Quay  declared  that  the  lieu- 
tenant, though  he  might  have  carried  off  a  prize,  was  cer- 
tainly not  the  prize-master  ;  and  they  even  went  so  far  as 
to  say  that  '  *  he  could  scarcely  call  his  soul  his  own. ' '  The 
matter  was  no  concern  of  theirs,  neither  were  their  conclu- 
sions true.  In  little  things  the  gallant  officer,  for  the  sake 
of  discipline  and  peace,  submitted  to  due  authority,  and 
being  so  much  from  home  he  left  all  household  matters  to  a 
firm  control.  In  return  for  this,  he  was  always  thought  of 
first,  and  the  best  of  everything  was  kept  for  him,  and  Mrs. 
Carroway  quoted  him  to  others  as  a  wonder,  though  she 
may  not  have  done  so  to  himself.  And  so,  upon  the 
whole,  they  got  on  very  well  together. 

Now  on  this  day,  when  the  lieutenant  had  exhausted  a 
grumble  of  unusual  intensity,  and  the  fair  Geraldine  (his 
eldest  child)  had  obeyed  him  to  the  letter,  by  keeping  her 
mouth  full,  while  she  warmed  a  plate  for  him,  it  was  not 
long  before  his  usual  luck  befell  the  bold  Carroway.  Rap, 
rap,  came  a  knock  at  the  side-door  of  his  cottage,  a  knock 
only  too  familiar  ;  and  he  heard  the  gruff  voice  of  Cadman, 
"  Can  I  see  his  honor  immediately  ?" 

"  No,  you  cannot, "  replied  Mrs.  Carroway.  "  One 
would  think  you  were  all  in  a  league  to  starve  him.  No 
sooner  does  he  get  half  a  mouthful — " 

"  Geraldine,  put  it  on  the  hob,  my  dear,  and  a  basin 
over  it.  Matilda,  my  love,  you  know  my  maxim,  i  Duty 
first,  dinner  afterward.'  Cadman,  I  will  come  with  you." 


GRUMBLING   AND   GROWLING.  109 

The  revenue-officer  took  up  Iris  hat  (which  had  less  time 
now  than  his  plate  to  get  cold)  and  followed  Cadman  to  the 
usual  place  for  holding  privy  councils.  This  was  under  the 
heel  of  the  pier  (which  was  then  about  half  as  long  as  now) 
at  a  spot  where  the  outer  wall  combed  over,  to  break  the 
crest  of  the  surges  in  the  height  of  a  heavy  eastern  gale. 
At  neap  tides,  and  in  moderate  weather,  this  place  was  dry, 
with  a  fine  salt  smell,  and  with  nothing  in  front  of  it  bat 
the  sea,  and  nothing  behind  it  but  solid  stone  wall,  any  one 
would  think  that  here  must  be  commune  sacred,  secret,  and 
secluded  from  eavesdroppers.  And  yet  it  was  not  so,  by 
reason  of  a  very  simple  reason. 

Upon  the  roadway  of  the  pier,  and  over  against  a  moor- 
ing-post,  where  the  parapet  and  the  pier  itself  made  a  need- 
ful turn  toward  the  south,  there  was  an  equally  needful 
thing,  a  gully-hole  with  an  iron  trap  to  carry  off  the  rain 
that  fell,  or  the  spray  that  broke  upon  the  fabric  ;  and  the 
outlet  of  this  gully  was  in  the  face  of  the  masonry  outside. 
Carroway,  not  being  gifted  with  a  crooked  mind,  had  never 
dreamed  that  this  little  gut  might  conduct  the  pulses  of  the 
air,  like  the  tyrant's  ear,  and  that  the  trap  at  the  end  might 
be  a  trap  for  him.  Yet  so  it  was  ;  and  by  gently  raising 
the  movable  iron  frame  at  the  top,  a  well-disposed  person 
might  hear  every  word  that  was  spoke  a  in  the  snug  recess 
below.  Cadman  was  well  aware  of  this  little  fact,  but  left 
his  commander  to  find  it  out. 

The  officer,  always  thinly  clad  (both  through  the  state 
of  his  wardrobe  and  his  dread  of  effeminate  comfort),  settled 
his  bony  shoulders  against  the  rough  stone-work,  and  his 
heels  upon  a  groin,  and  gave  his  subordinate  a  nod,  which 
meant,  "  Make  no  fuss,  but  out  with  it."  Cadman,  a  short 
square  fellow  with  crafty  eyes,  began  to  do  so. 

"  Captain,  I  have  hit  it  off  at  last.  Hackerbody  put  me 
wrong  last  time,  through  the  wench  he  hath  a  hankering 
after.  This  time  I  got  it,  and  no  mistake,  as  right  as  if  the 
villain  lay  asleep  'twixt  you  and  me,  and  told  us  all  about  it 
with  his  tongue  out  ;  and  a  good  thing  for  men  of  large 
families  like  me." 

u  All  that  I  have  heard  such  a  number  of  times,"  his 
commander  answered  crustily,  "  that  I  whistle,  as  we  used 


110  MARY   AKERLEY. 

to  do  in  a  dead  calm,  Cadman.  An  old  salt  like  you  knows 
how  little  comes  of  that." 

u  There  I  don't  quite  agree  with  your  honor.  I  have 
known  a  hurricane  come  from  whistling.  But  this  time 
there  is  no  woman  about  it,  and  the  penny  have  come 
down  straightforrard.  New  moon  Tuesday  next,  and  Mon- 
day we  slips  first  into  that  snug  little  cave.  He  hath  a'  had 
his  last  good  run." 

"  How  much  is  coming  this  time,  Cadman  ?  I  am  sick 
and  tired  of  those  three  caves.  It  is  all  old  woman's  talk  of 
caves,  while  they  are  running  south,  upon  the  open  beach." 

"  Captain,  it  is  a  big  venture  ;  the  biggest  of  all  the  sum- 
mer, I  do  believe.  Two  thousand  pounds,  if  there  is  a 
penny,  in  it.  The  schooner,  and  the  lugger,  and  the  ketch, 
all  to  once,  of  purpose  to  send  us  scattering.  But  your 
honor  knows  what  we  be  after  most.  No  woman  in  it  this 
time,  sir.  The  murder  has  been  of  the  women,  all  along. 
When  there  is  no  woman  I  can  see  my  way.  We  have  got 
the  right  pig  by  the  ear  this  time. ' ' 

"  John  Cadman,  your  manner  of  speech  is  rude.  You 
forget  that  your  commanding  officer  has  a  wife  and  family, 
three  quarters  of  which  are  female.  You  will  give  me  your 
information  without  any  rude  observations  as  to  sex,  of 
which  you,  as  a  married  man,  should  be  ashamed.  A  man 
and  his  wife  are  one  flesh,  Cadman  ;  and  therefore  you  are 
a  woman  yourself,  and  must  labor  not  to  disgrace  yourself. 
Now  don't  look  amazed,  but  consider  these  things.  If  you 
had  not  been  in  a  flurry,  like  a  woman,  you  would  not  have 
spoiled  my  dinner  so.  I  will  meet  you  at  the  outlook  at 
six  o'clock.  I  have  business  on  hand  of  importance." 

With  these  words  Carroway  hastened  home,  leaving 
Cadman  to  mutter  his  wrath,  and  then  to  growl  it,  when  his 
officer  was  out  of  earshot. 

"  Never  a  day,  nor  an  hour  a'most  without  he  insulteth 
of  me.  A  woman  indeed  !  Well,  his  wife  may  be  a  man, 
but  what  call  hath  he  to  speak  of  mine  so  ?  John  Cadman 
a  woman,  and  one  flesh  with  his  wife  !  pretty  news  that 
would  be  for  my  missus  !" 


SERIOUS   CHARGES.  Ill 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

SERIOUS     CHARGES. 

u  STEPHEN,  if  it  was  anybody  else,  you  would  listen  to 
me  in  a  moment,'7  said  Mrs.  Anerley  to  her  lord,  a  few 
days  after  that  little  interview  in  the  Bempton  lane  ;  * 4  for 
instance,  if  it  was  poor  Willie,  how  long  would  you  be  in 
believing  it  ?  But  because  it  is  Mary,  you  say  '  Pooh, 
pooh  ! '  And  I  may  as  well  talk  to  the  old  cracked  churn." 

44  First  time  of  all  my  born  days,"  the  farmer  answered, 
with  a  pleasant  smile,  "  that  ever  I  was  resembled  to  a 
churn.  But  a  man's  wife  ought  to  know  best  about  'un." 

4 4  Stephen,  it  is  not  the  churn — I  mean  you  ;  and  you  never 
should  attempt  to  ride  off  in  that  sort  of  way.  I  tell  you 
Mary  hath  a  mischief  on  her  mind  ;  and  you  never  ought 
to  bring  up  old  churns  to  me.  As  long  as  1  can  carry 
almost  anything  in  mind,  I  have  been  considered  to  be  full 
of  common-sense.  And  what  should  I  use  it  upon,  Captain 
Anerley,  without  it  was  my  own  daughter  ?" 

The  farmer  was  always  conquered  when  she  called  him 
11  Captain  Anerley."  He  took  it  to  point  at  him  as  a  pre- 
tender, a  coxcomb  fond  of  titles,  a  would-be  officer,  who 
took  good  care  to  hold  aloof  from  fighting.  And  he  knew 
in  his  heart  that  he  loved  to  be  called  <4  Captain  Anerley" 
by  every  one  who  meant  it. 

44  My  dear,"  he  said,  in  a  tone  of  submission,  and  with 
a  look  that  grieved  her  ;  44  the  knowledge  of  such  things  is 
with  you.  I  cannot  enter  into  young  maids'  minds,  any 
more  than  command  a  company." 

44  Stephen,  you  could  do  both,  if  you  chose,  better  than 
ten  of  eleven  who  do  it.  For,  Stephen,  you  have  a  very 
tender  mind,  and  are  not  at  all  like  a  churn,  my  dear. 
That  was  my  manner  of  speech,  you  ought  to  know  ;  be- 
cause from  my  youngest  days  I  had  a  crowd  of  imagination. 
You  remember  that,  Stephen,  don't  you  ?" 

44  I  remember,  Sophy,  that  in  the  old  time  you  never 
resembled  me  to  a  churn,  let  alone  a  cracked  one.  You 
used  to  christen  me  a  pillar,  and  a  tree,  and  a  rock,  and  a 


112  MARY   AKERLEY. 

polished  corner — but  there,  what's  the  odds,  when  a  man 
has  done  his  duty  ?  The  names  of  him  makes  no  differ- 
ence." 

"  'Twixtyou  and  me,  my  dear,"  she  said,  "  nothing  can 
make  any  difference.  We  know  one  another  too  well  for 
that.  You  are  all  that  I  ever  used  to  call  you,  before  I 
knew  better  about  you,  and  when  I  used  to  dwell  upon 
your  hair  and  your  smile.  You  know  what  I  used  to  say 
of  them  now,  Stephen  ?" 

"  Most  complimentary,  highly  complimentary  !  Another 
young  woman  brought  me  word  of  it,  and  it  made  me  stick 
firm,  when  my  mind  was  doubtful." 

"  And  glad  you  ought  to  be  that  you  did  stick  firm. 
And  you  have  the  Lord  to  thank  for  it,  as  well  as  your  own 
sense.  But  no  time  to  talk  of  our  old  times  now.  They 
are  coming  up  again,  with  those  younkers,  I'm  afraid. 
Willie  is  like  a  church  ;  and  Jack — no  chance  of  him  getting 
the  chance  of  it — but  Mary,  your  darling  of  the  lot,  our 
Mary — her  mind  is  unsettled,  and  a  worry  coming  over 
her  ;  the  same  as  with  me  when  I  saw  you  first." 

"It  is  the  Lord  that  directs  those  things,"  the  farmer 
answered  steadfastly  ;  "  and  Mary  hath  the  sense  of  her 
mother,  I  believe.  That  it  is  maketh  me  so  fond  on  her. 
If  the  young  maid  hath  taken  a  fancy,  it  will  pass  without  a 
bit  of  substance  to  settle  on.  Why,  how  many  fancies  had 
you,  Sophy,  before  you  had  the  good  luck  to  clap  eyes  on 
me  ?" 

"  That  is  neither  here  nor  there,"  his  wife  replied  auda- 
ciously ;  "  how  many  times  have  you  asked  such  questions, 
which  are  no  concern  of  yours  ?  You  could  not  expect  me, 
before  ever  I  saw  you,  not  to  have  any  eyes  or  ears.  I  had 
plenty  to  say  for  myself  ;  and  I  was  not  plain  ;  and  I  acted 
accordingly." 

Master  Anerley  thought  about  this,  because  he  had  heard 
it,  and  thought  of  it,  many  times  before.  He  hated  to 
think  about  anything  new,  having  never  known  any  good 
come  of  it  ;  and  his  thoughts  would  rather  flow  than  fly, 
even  in  the  fugitive  brevity  of  youth.  And  now,  in  his 
settled  way,  his  practice  was  to  tread  thought  deeper  into 
thought,  as  a  man  in  deep  snow  keeps  the  track  of  his  own. 


SERIOUS   CHARGES.  113 

boots,  or  as  a  child  writes  ink  on  pencil  in  his  earliest 
copy-books.  "  You  acted  according, "  he  said  ;  "  and 
Mary  might  act  according  to  you,  mother. " 

44  How  can  you  talk  so,  Stephen  ?  That  would  be  a  dif- 
ferent thing  altogether.  Young  girls  are  not  a  bit  like 
what  they  used  to  be  in  my  time.  No  steadiness,  no  dili- 
gence, no  duty  to  their  parents.  Gadding  about  is  all  they 
think  of,  and  light-headed  chatter,  and  saucy  ribbons." 

44  Maybe  so  with  some  of  them.  But  I  never  see  none 
of  that  in  Mary. '  • 

44  Mary  is  a  good  girl,  and  well  brought  up,"  her  mother 
could  not  help  admitting  ;  44  and  fond  of  her  home,  and 
industrious.  But  for  all  that  she  must  be  looked  after 
sharply.  And  who  can  look  after  a  child  like  her  mother  ? 
I  can  tell  you  one  thing,  Master  Stephen,  your  daughter 
Mary  has  more  will  of  her  own  than  the  rest  of  your  family 
all  put  together,  including  even  your  own  good  wife." 

44  Prodigious  !"  cried  the  farmer,  while  he  rubbed  his 
hands  and  laughed  ;  44  prodigious  ;  and  a  man  might  say 
impossible.  A  young  lass  like  Mary,  such  a  coaxing  little 
poppet,  as  tender  as  a  lambkin,  and  as  soft  as  wool  !" 

44  Flannel  won't  only  run  one  way  ;  no  more  won't 
Mary, 7 '  said  her  mother  ;  4  4  I  know  her  better  a  long  sight 
than  you  do  ;  and  I  say  if  ever  Mary  sets  her  heart  on  any 
one,  have  him  she  will,  be  he  cow-boy,  thief,  or  chimney- 
sweep. So  now  you  know  what  to  expect,  Master  Aner- 
ley." 

Stephen  Anerley  never  made  light  of  his  wife's  opinions 
in  those  few  cases  wherein  they  differed  from  his  own. 
She  agreed  with  him  so  generally,  that  in  common  fairness 
he  thought  very  highly  of  her  wisdom  ;  and  the  present 
subject  was  one  upon  which  she  had  an  especial  right  to  be 
heard. 

44  Sophy,"  he  said,  as  he  set  up  his  coat  to  be  off  to  a 
cutting  of  clover  on  the  hill — for  no  reaping  would  begin 
yet  for  another  month — 44  the  things  you  have  said  shall 
abide  in  my  mind.  Only  you  be  a- watching  of  the  little 
wench.  Harry  Tanfieldistheman  I  would  choose  for  her  of 
all  others.  But  I  never  would  force  any  husband  on  a  lass  ; 
though  stern  would  I  be  to  force  a  bad  one  off,  or  one  in 


114:  MABY   ANERLEY. 

an  unfit  walk  of  life.  No  inkle  in  your  mind  who  it  is,  or 
wouldst  have  told  me  ?" 

"  Well,  I  may,  or  I  may  not.  I  never  like  to  speak  pro- 
miscuous. You  have  the  first  right  to  know  what  I  think. 
But  I  beg  you  to  let  me  be  awhile.  Not  even  to  you, 
Steve,  would  I  say  it,  without  more  to  go  upon  than  there  is 
yet.  I  might  do  the  lass  a  great  wrong  in  my  surmising  ; 
and  then  you  would  visit  my  mistake  on  me  ;  for  she  is  the 
apple  of  your  eye,  no  doubt. " 

"  There  is  never  such  another  maid  in  all  York  county  ; 
nor  in  England,  to  my  thinking.'7 

u  She  is  my  daughter  as  well  as  yours,  and  I  would  be 
the  last  to  make  cheap  of  her.  I  will  not  say  another  word 
until  I  know.  But  if  I  am  right — which  the  Lord  forbid 
— we  shall  both  be  ashamed  of  her,  Stephen." 

"  The  Lord  forbid  !  The  Lord  forbid  !  Amen.  I  will 
not  hear  another  word."  The  farmer  snatched  up  his  hat, 
and  made  off  with  a  haste  unusual  for  him,  while  his  wife 
sat  down,  and  crossed  her  arms,  and  began  to  think  rather 
bitterly.  For,  without  any  dream  of  such  a  possibility,  she 
was  jealous  sometimes  of  her  own  child.  Presently  the 
farmer  rushed  back  again,  triumphant  with  a  new  idea. 
His  eyes  were  sparkling,  and  his  step  full  of  spring,  and  a 
brisk  smile  shone  upon  his  strong  and  ruddy  face. 

4'  What  a  pair  of  stupes  we  must  be  to  go  on  so  !"  he 
cried,  with  a  couple  of  bright  guineas  in  his  hand  ;  "  Mary 
hath  not  had  a  new  frock  even,  going  on  now  for  a  year  and  a 
half.  Sophy,  it  is  enough  to  turn  a  maid  into  thinking  of 
any  sort  of  mischief.  Take  you  these,  and  make  every- 
thing right.  I  was  saving  them  up  for  her  birthday,  but 
maybe  another  will  turn  up  by  that.  My  dear,  you  take 
them,  and  never  be  af eared. " 

44  Stephen,  you  may  leave  them,  if  you  like.  I  shall  not 
be  in  any  haste  to  let  them  go.  Either  give  them  to  the 
lass  yourself,  or  leave  it  to  me  purely.  She  shall  not  have 
a  sixpence,  unless  it  is  deserved.7' 

"  Of  course,  I  leave  it  in  your  hands,  wife.  I  never 
come  between  you  and  your  children.  But  young  folk  go 
piping  always  after  money  now  ;  and  even  our  Mary  might 
be  turning  sad  without  it. ' ' 


SERIOUS   CHARGES.  115 

He  hastened  off  again,  without  hearing  any  more  ;  for 
he  knew  that  some  hours  of  strong  labor  were  before  him  ; 
and  to  meet  them  with  a  heavy  heart  would  be  almost  a 
new  thing  for  him.  Some  time  ago  he  had  begun  to  hold 
the  plough  of  heaviness,  through  the  difficult  looseness  of 
Willie's  staple,  and  the  sudden  maritime  slope  of  Jack  ; 
yet  he  held  on  steadily  through  all  this,  with  the  strength 
of  homely  courage.  But  if  in  the  pride  of  his  heart,  his 
Mary,  he  should  find  no  better  than  a  crooked  furrow,  then 
truly  the  labor  of  his  latter  days  would  be  the  dull  round  of 
a  mill-horse. 

Now  Mary,  in  total  ignorance  of  that  council  held  con- 
cerning  her,  and  even  of  her  mother's  bad  suspicions, 
chanced  to  come  in  at,  the  front  porch-door,  soon  after  her 
father  set  off  to  his  meadows  by  way  of  the  back-yard. 
Having  been  hard  at  work  among  her  flowers,  she  was  come 
to  get  a  cupful  of  milk  for  herself,  and  the  cheery  content 
and  general  good- will  encouraged  by  the  gardener's  gentle 
craft  were  smiling  on  her  rosy  lips  and  sparkling  in  her 
eyes.  Her  dress  was  as  plain  as  plain  could  be,  a  lavender 
twill  cut  and  fitted  by  herself,  and  there  was  not  an  orna- 
ment about  her  that  came  from  any  other  hand  than 
nature's.  But  simple  grace  of  movement,  and  light  ele- 
gance of  figure,  fair  curves  of  gentle  face,  and  loving  kind- 
ness of  expression,  gladdened  with  the  hope  of  youth — what 
did  these  want  with  smart  dresses,  golden  brooches,  and 
two  guineas  ?  Her  mother  almost  thought  of  this  when 
she  called  Mary  into  the  little  parlor.  Ami  the  two  guineas 
lay  upon  the  table. 

"  Mary,  can  you  spare  a  little  time  to  talk  with  me  ? 
You  seem  wonderfully  busy,  as  usual. " 

"  Mother,  will  you  never  make  allowance  for  rny  flowers  ? 
They  depend  upon  the  weather,  and  they  must  have  things 
accordingly." 

"  Very  well,  let  them  think  about  what  they  want  next, 
while  you  sit  down  awhile  and  talk  with  me." 

The  girl  was  vexed  ;  for  to  listen  to  a  lecture  already 
manifest  in  her  mother's  eyes  was  a  far  less  agreeable  job 
than  gardening.  And  the  lecture  would  have  done  as  well 
by  candle-light,  which  seldom  can  be  said  of  any  gardening. 


116  MARY   AKERLEY. 

However,  she  took  off  her  hat,  and  sat  down,  without  the 
least  sign  of  impatience,  and  without  any  token  of  guilt, 
as  her  mother  saw,  and  yet  stupidly  proceeded  just  the  same. 

11  Mary,"  she  began,  with  a  gaze  of  stern  discretion, 
which  the  girl  met  steadfastly  and  pleasantly  ;  "  you  know 
that  I  am  your  own  mother,  and  bound  to  look  after  you 
well,  while  you  are  so  very  young.  For  though  you  are 
sensible  some  ways,  Mary,  in  years  and  in  experience  what 
are  you  but  a  child  ?  Of  the  traps  of  the  world,  and  the 
wickedness  of  people,  you  can  have  no  knowledge.  You 
always  think  the  best  of  everybody  ;  which  is  a  very  proper 
thing  to  do,  and  what  I  have  always  brought  you  up  to, 
and  never  would  dream  of  discouraging.  And  with  such 
examples  as  your  father  and  your  mother,  you  must  be  per- 
verse to  do  otherwise.  Still  it  is  my  duty  to  warn  you, 
Mary,  and  you  are  getting  old  enough  to  want  it,  that  the 
world  is  not  made  up  of  fathers  and  mothers,  brothers  and 
sisters,  and  good  uncles.  There  are  always  bad  folk  who 
go  prowling  about  like  wolves  in — wolves  in — what  is  it — " 

"  Sheep's  clothing,"  the  maiden  suggested  with  a  smile, 
and  then  dropped  her  eyes  maliciously. 

"  How  dare  you  be  pert,  miss,  correcting  your  own 
mother  ?  Do  I  ever  catch  you  reading  of  your  Bible  ? 
But  you  seem  to  know  so  much  about  it,  perhaps  you  have 
met  some  of  them  ?" 

"  How  can  I  tell,  mother,  when  you  won't  tell  me  ?" 

"  I  tell  you  indeed  !  It  is  your  place  to  tell  me,  I  think. 
And  what  is  more,  I  insist  at  once  upon  knowing  all  about 
it.  What  makes  you  go  on  in  the  way  that  you  are  doing  ? 
Do  you  take  me  for  a  drumledore,  you  foolish  child  ?  On 
Tuesday  afternoon  I  saw  you  sewing  with  a  double-thread. 
Your  father  had  potato-eyes  upon  his  plate  on  Sunday  ; 
and  which  way  did  I  see  you  trying  to  hang  up  a  dish- 
cover  ?  But  that  is  nothing  ;  fifty  things  you  go  wandering 
about  in  ;  and  always  out,  on  some  pretence,  as  if  the  roof 
you  were  born  under  was  not  big  enough  for  you.  And 
then  your  eyes — I  have  seen  your  eyes  flash  up,  as  if  you 
were  fighting  ;  and  the  bosom  of  your  Sunday  frock  was 
loose  in  church  two  buttons  ;  it  was  not  hot  at  all  to  speak 


SERIOUS   CHARGES.  117 

of,  and  there  was  a  wasp  next  pew.  All  these  things  make 
me  unhappy,  Mary.  My  darling,  tell  me  what  it  is." 

Mary  listened  with  great  amazement  to  this  catalogue  of 
Clime*.  At  the  time  of  their  commission,  she  had  never 
even  thought  of  them  ;  although  she  was  vexed  with  her- 
self, when  she  saw  one  eye — for  in  verity  that  was  all — of 
a  potato  upon  her  father's  plate.  Now  she  blushed  when 
she  heard  of  the  buttons  of  her  frock — which  was  only 
done  because  of  tightness,  and  showed  how  long  she  mast 
have  worn  it — but  as  to  the  double-thread,  she  was  sure 
that  nothing  of  that  sort  could  have  happened. 

44  Why,  mother  dear,"  she  said,  quite  softly,  coming  up 
in  her  coaxing  way,  which  nobody  could  resist,  because  it 
was  true  and  gentle  lovingness  ;  "  you  know  a  hundred 
times  more  than  I  do.  I  have  never  known  of  any  of  the  sad 
mistakes  you  speak  of  ;  except  about  the  potato-eye,  and 
then  1  had  a  round-pointed  knife.  But  I  want  to  make  no 
excuses,  mother  ;  and  there  is  nothing  the  matter  with  me. 
Tell  me  what  you  mean  about  the  wolves." 

4  4  My  child, ' '  said  her  mother,  whose  face  she  was  kiss- 
ing, while  they  both  went  on  with  talking  ;  44  it  is  no  good 
trying  to  get  over  me.  Either  you  have  something  on  your 
mind,  or  you  have  not — which  is  it  ?" 

44  Mother,  what  can  1  have  on  my  mind  ?  I  have  never 
hurt  any  one,  and  never  mean  to  do  it.  Every  one  is  kind 
to  me,  and  everybody  likes  me  ;  and  of  course  I  like  them 
all  again.  And  I  always  have  plenty  to  do,  in  and  out,  as 
you  take  very  good  care,  dear  mother.  My  father  loves 
me  ;  and  so  do  you,  a  great  deal  more  than  1  deserve  per- 
haps ;  1  am  happy  in  a  Sunday  frock  that  wants  more  stulf 
to  button  ;  and  1  have  only  one  trouble  in  all  the  world. 
When  I  think  of  the  other  girls  I  see — " 

44  Never  mind  them,  my  dear.  What  is  your  one 
trouble?" 

44  Mother,  as  if  you  could  help  knowing  !  About  my 
dear  brother  Jack,  of  course.  Jack  was  so  wonderfully 
good  to  me  !  I  would  walk  on  my  hands  and  knees  all  the 
way  to  York  to  get  a  single  glimpse  of  him." 

44  You  would  never  get  as  far  as  the  rick-yard  hedge. 
You  children  talk  such  nonsense.  Jack  ran  away  of  his 


118  MARY   AXERLEY^ 

own  free  will,  and  out  of  downright  contrariness.  He  has 
repented  of  it  only  once,  I  dare  say  ;  and  that  has  been  ever 
since  he  did  it,  and  every  time  he  thought  of  it.  I  wish 
he  was  home  again,  with  all  my  heart,  for  I  cannot  bear  to 
lose  my  children.  And  Jack  was  as  good  a  boy  as  need 
be,  when  he  got  everything  his  own  way.  Mary,  is  that 
your  only  trouble  ?  Stand  where  I  can  see  you  plainly, 
and  tell  me  every  word  the  truth.  Put  your  hair  back  from 
your  eyes  now,  like  the  catechism." 

i4  If  1  was  saying  fifty  catechisms,  what  more  could  I  do 
than  speak  the  truth  ?"  Mary  asked  this  with  some  little 
vexation  ;  while  she  stood  up  proudly  before  her  mother, 
and  clasped  her  hands  behind  her  back.  '*  I  have  told  you 
everything  I  know,  except  one  little  thing  which  I  am  not 
sure  about. " 

"  What  little  thing,  if  you  please  ?  And  how  can  you 
help  being  sure  about  it,  positive  as  you  are  about  every- 
thing ?" 

At  Mother,  1  mean  that  I  have  not  been  sure  whether  I 
ought  to  tell  you  ;  and  I  meant  to  tell  my  father  first,  when 
there  could  be  no  mischief. " 

"  Mary,  I  can  scarcely  believe  my  ears.  To  tell  your 
father,  before  your  mother  ;  and  not  even  him,  until  noth- 
ing could  be  done  to  stop  it,  which  you  call  4  mischief  '  !  I 
insist  upon  knowing  at  once  what  it  is.  I  have  felt  that 
you  were  hiding  something.  How  very  unlike  you,  how 
unlike  a  child  of  mine  !" 

"  You  need  not  disturb  yourself,  mother  dear.  It  is 
nothing  of  any  importance  to  me,  though  to  other  people 
it  might  be.  And  that  is  the  reason  why  I  kept  it  to  my- 
self." 

"  Oh,  we  shall  come  to  something  by  and  by  !  One 
would  really  think  you  were  older  than  your  mother. 
Now,  miss,  if  you  please,  let  us  judge  of  your  discretion. 
What  is  it  that  you  have  been  hiding  so  long  ?n 

Mary's  face  grew  crimson  now,  but  with  anger  rather 
than  with  shame  ;  she  had  never  thought  twice  about  Robin 
Lyth,  with  anything  warmer  than  pity  ;  but  this  was  the 
very  way  to  drive  her  into  dwelling  in  a  mischievous  man- 
ner upon  him. 


SEIUOUS   CHARGES.  119 

44  What  I  have  been  hiding, "  she  said  most  distinctly, 
and  steadfastly  looking  at  her  mother,  44  is  only  that  I  have 
had  two  talks  with  the  great  free-trader,  Robin  Lyth." 

44  That  arrant  smuggler  !  That  leader  of  all  outlaws  ! 
You  have  been  meeting  him  on  the  sly  !" 

44  Certainly  not.  But  I  met  him  once  by  chance  ;  and 
then,  as  a  matter  of  business,  I  was  forced  to  meet  him 
again,  dear  mother. ' ' 

44  These  things  are  too  much  for  me,"  Mrs.  Anerley  said 
decisively  ;  44  when  matters  have  come  to  such  a  pass,  I 
must  beg  your  dear  father  to  see  to  them.77 

44  Very  well,  mother  ;  I  would  rather  have  it  so.  May  1 
go  now  and  make  an  end  of  my  gardening  ?" 

44  Certainly  ;  as  soon  as  you  have  made  an  end  of  me  ; 
as  you  must  quite  have  laid  your  plans  to  do.  I  have  seen 
too  much  to  be  astonished  any  more.  But  to  think  that  a 
child  of  mine,  my  one  and  only  daughter,  who  looks  as  if 
butter  wouldn't  melt  in  her  mouth,  should  be  hand  in  glove 
with  the  wickedest  smuggler  of  the  age,  the  rogue  every- 
body shoots  at,  but  cannot  hit  him,  because  he  was  born  to 
be  hanged — the  by-name,  the  by-word,  the  by-blow,  Robin 
Lyth  !"  Mrs.  Anerley  covered  her  face  with  both  hands. 

44  How  would  you  like  your  own  second  cousin,"  said 
Mary,  plucking  up  her  spirit,  **  your  own  second  cousin, 
Mistress  Cockscroft,  to  hear  you  speak  so  of  the  man  that 
supports  them,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  every  hour  of  it  ?  He 
may  be  doing  wrong  ;  it  is  not  for  me  to  say,  but  he  does 
it  very  well,  and  he  does  it  nobly.  And  what  did  you 
show  me  in  your  drawer,  dear  mother  ?  And  what  did  you 
wear,  when  that  very  cruel  man,  Captain  Carroway,  came 
here  to  dine  on  Sunday  ?" 

44  You  wicked,  undutiful  child  !  Go  away.  I  wish  to 
have  nothing 'more  to  say  to  you." 

44  No,  I  will  not  go  away,"  cried  Mary,  with  her  resolute 
spirit  in  her  eyes  and  brow  ;  44  when  false  and  cruel  charges 
are  brought  against  me,  I  have  the  right  to  speak,  and  1 
will  use  it.  I  am  not  hand  in  glove  with  Robin  Lyth,  or 
any  other  Robin.  I  think  a  little  more  of  myself  than  that. 
If  I  have  done  any  wrong,  I  will  meet  it,  and  be  sorry,  and 
submit  to  any  punishment.  I  ought  to  have  told  you  be- 


120  MARY  ANERLEY. 

fore  perhaps  ;  that  is  the  worst  you  can  say  of  it.  But  I 
never  attached  much  importance  to  it  ;  and  when  a  man  is 
hunted  so,  was  I  to  join  his  enemies  ?  I  have  only  seen 
him  twice  ;  the  first  time  by  purest  accident  ;  and  the 
second  time  to  give  him  back  a  piece  of  his  own  property. 
And  I  took  my  brother  with  me  ;  but  he  ran  away,  as 
usual. ' ' 

"  Of  course,  of  course.  Every  one  to  blame  but  you, 
miss.  However,  we  shall  see  what  your  father  has  to  say. 
You  have  very  nearly  taken  all  my  breath  away  ;  but  I  shall 
expect  the  whole  sky  to  tumble  in  upon  us,  if  Captain 
Anerley  approves  of  Robin  Lyth  as  a  sweetheart  for  his 
daughter. ' ' 

tk  I  never  thought  of  Captain  Lyth  ;  and  Captain  Lyth 
never  thought  of  me.  But  I  can  tell  you  one  thing,  mother 
— if  you  wanted  to  make  me  think  of  him,  you  could  not 
do  it  better  than  by  speaking  so  unjustly.7' 

"  After  that  perhaps  you  will  go  back  to  your  flowers. 
I  have  heard  that  they  grow  very  fine  ones  in  Holland. 
Perhaps  you  have  got  some  smuggled  tulips,  my  dear. ' ' 

Mary  did  not  condescend  to  answer,  but  said  to  herself, 
as  she  went  to  work  again,  "  Tulips  in  August  !  That  is 
like  the  rest  of  it.  However,  I  am  not  going  to  be  put  out, 
when  I  feel  that  I  have  not  done  a  single  bit  of  harm.'7 
And  she  tried  to  be  happy  with  her  flowers  ;  but  could  not 
enter  into  them,  as  before. 

Mistress  Anerley  was  as  good  as  her  word,  at  the  very 
first  opportunity.  Her  husband  returned  from  the  clover- 
stack,  tired  and  hungry,  and  angry  with  a  man  who  had 
taken  too  much  beer,  and  ran  at  him  with  a  pitchfork  ; 
angry  also  with  his  own  son  Willie,  for  not  being  anywhere 
in  the  way  to  help.  He  did  not  complain  ;  and  his  wife 
knew  at  once  that  he  ought  to  have  done  so,  to  obtain 
relief.  She  perceived  that  her  own  discourse  about  their 
daughter  was  still  on  his  mind,  and  would  require  working 
off,  before  any  more  was  said  about  it.  And  she  felt  as 
sure  as  if  she  saw  it,  that  in  his  severity  against  poor  Willie 
— for  not  doing  things  that  were  beneath  him — her  master 
would  take  Mary's  folly  as  a  joke,  and  fall  upon  her  brother, 
who  was  so  much  older,  for  not  going  on  to  protect  and 


CAUGHT  AT  LAST.  121 

guide  her.  So  she  kept  till  after  supper-time  her  mouthful 
of  bad  tidings. 

And  when  the  farmer  heard  it  all,  as  he  did  before  going 
to  sleep  that  night,  he  had  smoked  three  pipes  of  tobacco, 
and  was  calm,  he  had  sipped  (for  once  in  a  way)  a  little 
Hollands,  and  was  hopeful.  And  though  he  said  nothing 
about  it,  he  felt,  that  without  any  order  of  his,  or  so  much 
as  the  faintest  desire  to  be  told  of  it,  neither  of  these  petty 
comforts  would  bear  to  be  rudely  examined  of  its  duty. 
He  hoped  for  the  best,  and  he  believed  the  best  ;  and  if 
the  king  was  cheated,  why  his  loyal  subject  was  the  same, 
and  the  women  were  their  masters. 

"  Have  no  fear,  no  fear,"  he  muttered  back  through  the 
closing  gate  of  sleep  ;  "  Mary  knows  her  business — busi- 
ness— "  and  he  buzzed  it  off  into  a  snore. 

In  the  morning,  however,  he  took  a  stronger  and  more 
serious  view  of  the  case,  pronouncing  that  Mary  was  only  a 
young  lass,  and  no  one  could  ever  tell  about  young  lasses. 
And  he  quite  fell  into  his  wife's  suggestion,  that  the  maid 
could  be  spared  till  harvest-time,  of  which  (even  with  the 
best  of  weather)  there  was  little  chance  now  for  another  six 
weeks,  the  season  being  late  and  backward.  So  it  was 
resolved  between  them  both  that  the  girl  should  go  on  the 
following  day  for  a  visit  to  her  Uncle  Popplewell,  some 
miles  the  other  side  of  Filey.  No  invitation  was  required  ; 
for  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Popplewell,  a  snug  and  comfortable  pair, 
were  only  too  glad  to  have  their  niece,  and  had  often  wanted 
to  have  her  altogether  ;  but  the  farmer  would  never  hear  of 
that. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

CAUGHT     AT     LAST. 

WHILE  these  little  things  were  doing  thus,  the  coast  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Tees  to  that  of  the  H umber,  and  even  the 
inland  parts,  were  in  a  great  stir  of  talk  and  work,  about 
events  impending.  It  must  not  be  thought  that  Flam- 
borough,  although  it  was  Robin's  dwelling-place — so  far  as 


122  MARY   AKERLEY. 

he  had  any — was  the  principal  scene  of  his  operations,  or 
the  stronghold  of  his  enterprise.  On  the  contrary,  his  lik- 
ing was  for  quiet  coves  near  Scarborough,  or  even  to  the 
north  of  Whitby,  when  the  wind  and  tide  were  suitable. 
And  for  this  there  were  many  reasons,  which  are  not  of  any 
moment  now. 

One  of  them  showed  fine  feeling,  and  much  delicacy  on 
his  part.  He  knew  that  Flamborough  was  a  place  of  extraor- 
dinary honesty,  where  every  one  of  his  buttons  had  been 
safe,  and  would  have  been  so  forever  ;  and  strictly  as  he 
believed  in  the  virtue  of  his  own  free  importation  it  was 
impossible  for  him  not  to  learn  that  certain  people  thought 
otherwise,  or  acted  as  if  they  did  so.  From  the  troubles 
which  such  doubts  might  cause  he  strove  to  keep  the  natives 
free. 

Flamburians  scarcely  understood  this  largeness  of  good- 
will to  them.  Their  instincts  told  them  that  free-trade  was 
every  Briton's  privilege  ;  and  they  had  the  finest  set  of 
donkeys  on  the  coast  for  landing  it.  But  none  the  more 
did  any  of  them  care  to  make  a  movement  toward  it.  They 
were  satisfied  with  their  own  old  way — to  cast  the  net  their 
father  cast,  and  bait  the  hook  as  it  was  baited  on  their 
good  grandfather's  thumb. 

Yet  even  Flamborough  knew  that  now  a  mighty  enter- 
prise was  in  hand.  It  was  said,  without  any  contradiction, 
that  young  Captain  Robin  had  laid  a  wager  of  one  hundred 
guineas  with  the  worshipful  mayor  of  Scarborough,  and  the 
commandant  of  the  castle,  that  before  the  new  moon  he 
would  land  on  Yorkshire  coast,  without  firing  pistol  or 
drawing  steel,  free  goods  to  the  value  of  two  thousand 
pounds  and  carry  them  inland  safely.  And  Flamborough 
believed  that  he  would  do  it. 

Dr.  Upround's  house  stood  well,  as  rectories  generally 
contrive  to  do.  No  place  in  Flamborough  parish  could 
hope  to  swindle  the  wind  of  its  vested  right,  or  to  embezzle 
much  treasure  of  the  sun  ;  but  the  parsonage  made  a  good 
effort  to  do  both,  and  sometimes  for  three  days  together  got 
the  credit  of  succeeding.  And  the  dwellers  therein,  who 
felt  the  edge  of  the  difference  outside  their  own  walls,  not 


CAUGHT   AT   LAST.  123 

only  said,  but  thoroughly  believed,  that  they  lived  in  a  little 
Goshen. 

For  the  house  was  well  settled  in  a  wrinkle  of  the  hill  ex- 
panding southward,  and  encouraging  the  noon.  From  the 
windows  a  pleasant  glimpse  might  be  obtained  of  the  broad 
and  tranquil  anchorage,  peopled  with  white  or  black  accord- 
ing as  the  sails  went  up  or  down  ;  for  the  rectory  stood  to 
the  southward  of  the  point,  as  the  rest  of  Flamborough  surely 
must  have  stood,  if  built  by  any  other  race  than  armadilloes. 
But  to  see  all  those  vessels  and  be  sure  what  they  were 
doing,  the  proper  place  was  a  little  snug  "  gazebo, "  chosen 
and  made  by  the  doctor  himself,  near  the  crest  of  the  gully 
he  inhabited. 

Here  upon  a  genial  summer  day — when  it  came,  as  it 
sometimes  dared  to  do — was  the  finest  little  nook  upon  the 
Yorkshire  coast  for  watching  what  Virgil  calls  t;  the  sail- 
winged  sea."  Not  that  a  man  could  see  round  the  Head, 
unless  his  own  were  gifted  with  very  crooked  eyes  ;  but 
without  doing  that  (which  would  only  have  disturbed  the 
tranquillity  of  his  prospect)  there  was  plenty  to  engage  him 
in  the  peaceful  spread  of  comparatively  waveless  waters. 
Here  might  he  see  long  vessels  rolling,  not  with  great  mis- 
ery, but  just  enough  to  make  him  feel  happy  in  the  firmness 
of  his  bench,  and  little  jolly-boats  it  was  more  jolly  to  be 
out  of,  and  far-away  heads  giving  genial  bobs,  and  sea- legs 
straddled  in  predicaments  desirable  rather  for  study  than 
for  practice.  All  was  highly  picturesque  and  nice,  and 
charming  for  the  critic  who  had  never  got  to  do  it. 

kk  Now,  papa,  you  must  come  this  very  moment,"  cried 
Miss  Janetta  Upround  (the  daughter  of  the  house,  and  in- 
deed the  only  daughter),  with  a  gush  of  excitement,  rushing 
into  the  study  of  this  deeply- read  divine  ;  "  there  is  some- 
thing doing  that  I  cannot  understand.  You  must  bring  up 
the  spy-glass  at  once,  and  explain.  I  am  sure  that  there  is 
something  very  wrong." 

4i  In  the  parish,  my  dear  ?"  the  rector  asked,  with  a  fee- 
ble attempt  at  malice,  for  he  did  not  want  to  be  disturbed 
just  now,  and  for  weeks  he  had  tried  (with  very  poor  suc- 
cess) to  make  Janetta  useful  ;  for  she  had  no  gift  in  that 
way. 


124:  MARY  ANERLEY. 

u  No,  not  in  the  parish,  at  all,  papa  ;  unless  it  runs  out 
under  water,  as  I  ain  certain  it  ought  to  do,  and  make 
every  one  of  those  ships  pay  tithe.  If  the  law  was  worth 
anything,  they  would  have  to  do  it.  They  get  all  the  good 
out  of  our  situation,  and  they  save  whole  thousands  of 
pounds  at  a  time,  and  they  never  pay  a  penny,  nor  even 
hoist  a  flag,  unless  the  day  is  fine,  and  the  flag  wants  dry- 
ing. But  come  along,  papa,  now.  I  really  cannot  wait  ; 
and  they  will  have  done  it  all  without  us." 

"  Janetta,  take  the  glass  and  get  the  focus.  I  will  come 
presently,  presently.  In  about  two  minutes,  by  the  time 
that  you  are  ready. ' ' 

"  Very  well,  papa.  It  is  very  good  of  you.  I  see  quite 
clearly  what  you  want  to  do  ;  and  I  hope  you  will  do  it. 
But  you  promise  not  to  play  another  game  now  ?" 

il  My  dear,  I  will  promise  that  with  pleasure.  Only  do 
please  be  off  about  your  business. ' ' 

The  rector  was  a  most  inveterate  and  insatiable  chess- 
player. In  the  household,  rather  than  by  it,  he  was,  as  a 
matter  of  lofty  belief,  supposed  to  be  deeply  engaged  with 
theology,  or  magisterial  questions  of  almost  equal  depth,  or 
(to  put  it  at  the  lowest)  parochial  affairs,  the  while  he  was 
solidly  and  seriously  engaged  in  getting  up  the  sound  de- 
fence to  some  continental  gambit.  And  this,  not  only  to 
satisfy  himself  upon  some  point  of  theory,  but  from  a 
nearer  aud  dearer  point  of  view — for  he  never  did  like  to  be 
beaten. 

At  present  he  was  laboring  to  discover  the  proper  defence 
to  a  new  and  slashing  form  of  the  Algaier  gambit,  by  means 
of  which  Robin  Lyth  had  won  every  game  in  which  he  had 
the  move,  upon  their  last  encounter.  The  great  free-trader, 
while  a  boy,  had  shown  an  especial  aptitude  for  chess  ;  and 
even  as  a  child  he  had  seemed  to  know  the  men  when  first, 
by  some  accident,  he  saw  them.  The  rector  being  struck 
by  this  exception  to  the  ways  of  childhood — whose  manner 
it  is  to  take  chessmen  for  "  dollies,"  or  roll  them  about  like 
nine-pins — at  once  included  in  the  education  of  4i  Izun- 
sabe,"  which  he  took  upon  himself,  a  course  of  elemental 
doctrine  in  the  one  true  game.  And  the  boy  fought  his 
way  up  at  such  a  pace,  that  he  jumped  from  odds  of  queen 


CAUGHT   AT   LAST.  125 

and  rook,  to  pawn  and  two  moves,  in  loss  than  two  years. 
And  now  he  could  almost  give  odds  to  his  tutor,  though  he 
never  presumed  to  offer  them  ;  and  trading  as  he  did  with 
enlightened  merchants  of  large  continental  seaports,  who 
had  plenty  of  time  on  their  hands  and  played  well,  he  im- 
ported new  openings  of  a  dash  and  freedom  which  swal- 
lowed the  ground  up  under  the  feet  of  the  steady-going 
players,  who  had  never  seen  a  book  upon  their  favorite  sub- 
ject. Of  course  it  was  competent  to  all  these  to  decline 
such  fiery  onslaught  ;  but  chivalry  and  the  true  love  of 
analysis  (which  without  may  none  play  chess)  compelled  the 
acceptance  of  the  challenge,  even  with  a  trembling  forecast 
of  the  taste  of  dust. 

"  Never  mind,'7  said  Dr.  Upround,  as  he  rose  and 
stretched  himself,  a  good  straight  man  of  threescore  years, 
with  silver  hair  that  shone  like  silk  ;  "  it  has  not  come  to 
me  yet  ;  but  it  must,  with  a  little  more  perseverance.  At 
Cambridge  I  beat  everybody  ;  and  who  is  this  uncircum- 
cised — at  least,  I  beg  his  pardon,  for  I  did  myself  baptize 
him — but  who  is  Robin  Lyth,  to  mate  his  pastor  and  his 
master  ?  All  these  gambits  are  like  a  night  attack.  If  once 
met  properly  and  expelled,  you  are  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
enemy's  camp.  He  has  left  his  own  watch-fires  to  rush  at 
yours.  The  next  game  I  play,  I  shall  be  sure  to  beat 
him." 

Fully  convinced  of  this  great  truth,  he  took  a  strong  oak 
staff  and  hastened  to  obey  his  daughter.  Miss  Janetta  Up- 
round  had  not  only  learned  by  nature,  but  also  had  been 
carefully  taught  by  her  parents,  and  by  every  one,  how  to 
get  her  own  way  always,  and  to  be  thanked  for  taking  it. 
But  she  had  such  a  happy  nature,  full  of  kindness  and  good- 
will, that  other  people's  wishes  always  seemed  to  flow  into 
her  own,  instead  of  being  swept  aside.  Over  her  father 
her  government  was  in  no  sort  constitutional,  nor  even  a 
quiet  despotism  sweetened  with  liberal  illusions,  but  as 
pure  a  piece  of  autocracy  as  the  continent  could  itself  con- 
tain, in  the  time  of  this  first  Napoleon. 

44  Papa,  what  a  time  you  have  been,  to  be  sure  !"  she 
exclaimed,  as  the  doctor  came  gradually  up,  probing  his 
way  in  perfect  leisure,  and  fragrant  still  of  that  gambit  ; 


126  MA  BY   AKEELEY. 

"  one  would  think  that  your  parish  was  on  dry  land  alto- 
gether, while  the  better  half  of  it,  as  they  call  themselves — 
though  the  women  are,  in  righteousness,  the  better  half  a 
hundredfold— " 

"  My  dear,  do  try  to  talk  with  some  little  sense  of  arith- 
metic, if  no  other.  A  hundredfold  the  half  would  be  the 
unit  multiplied  by  fifty.  Not  to  mention  that  there  can  be 
no  better  half — " 

"  Yes,  there  can,  papa,  ever  so  many  ;  and  you  may  see 
one  in  mamma  every  day.  Now  you  put  one  eye  to  this 
glass  ;  and  the  half  is  better  than  the  whole.  With  both, 
you  see  nothing  ;  with  one,  you  see  better,  fifty  times  bet- 
ter than  with  both  before.  Don't  talk  of  arithmetic  after 
that.  It  is  algebra  now,  and  quod  demonstrandum." 

"  To  reason  with  the  less  worthy  gender  is  degeneration 
of  reason.  What  would  they  have  said  in  the  senate- 
house,  Janetta  ?  However,  I  will  obey  your  orders.  What 
am  I  to  look  at?" 

"  A  tall  and  very  extraordinary  man,  striking  his  arms 
out,  thus  and  thus.  I  never  saw  any  one  looking  so  ex- 
cited  ;  and  he  flourishes  a  long  sword  now  and  again,  as  if 
he  would  like  to  cut  everybody's  head  off.  There  he  has 
been  going  from  ship  to  ship,  for  an  hour  or  more,  with  a 
long  white  boat  and  a  lot  of  men  jumping  after  him.  Every 
one  seems  to  be  scared  of  him,  and  he  stumps  along  the 
deck,  just  as  if  he  were  on  springs,  and  one  spring  longer 
than  the  other.  You  see  that  heavy  brig  outside  the  rest, 
painted  with  ten  port-holes  ;  well,  she  began  to  make  sail, 
and  run  away,  but  he  fired  a  gun — quite  a  real  cannon  ;  and 
she  had  to  come  back  again,  and  drop  her  colors.  Oh,  is 
it  some  very  great  admiral,  papa  ?  Perhaps  Lord  Nelson 
himself  ;  I  would  go  and  be  sea-sick  for  three  days,  to  see 
Lord  Nelson.  Papa,  it  must  be  Lord  Nelson." 

"  My  dear,  Lord  Nelson  is  a  little  short  man,  with  a 
very  brisk  walk,  and  one  arm  gone.  Now  let  me  see  who 
this  can  be.  Whereabout  is  he  now,  Janetta  3" 

11  Do  you  see  that  clumsy-looking  schooner,  papa,  just 
behind  a  pilot-boat  ?  He  is  just  in  front  of  her  foremast — 
making  such  a  fuss — " 

"  What  eyes  you  have  got,  my  child  !     You  see  better 


CAUGHT   AT  LAST.  127 

without  the  glass  than  I  do  with  it.  Oh,  now  I  have  him  ! 
Why  I  might  have  guessed.  Of  course,  it  is  that  very  ac- 
tive man  and  vigilant  officer,  Lieutenant  Carroway. " 

"  Captain  Carroway  from  Bridlington,  papa  !  Why, 
what  can  he  be  doing  with  such  authority  ?  I  have  often 
heard  of  him,  but  I  thought  he  was  only  a  coast-guard." 

"  He  is,  as  you  say,  showing  great  authority,  and  I  fear 
using  very  bad  language,  for  which  he  is  quite  celebrated. 
However,  the  telescope  refuses  to  repeat  it,  for  which  it  is 
much  to  be  commended.  But  every  allowance  must  be 
made  for  a  man  who  has  to  deal  with  a  wholly  uncultivated 
race,  and  not  of  natural  piety,  like  ours. " 

"  Well,  papa,  I  doubt  if  ours  have  too  much,  though 
you  always  make  such  lambs  of  them.  But  let  me  look 
again,  please  ;  and  do  tell  me  what  he  can  be  doing 
there." 

"  You  know  that  the  revenue-officers  must  take  the  law 
into  their  own  hands  sometimes.  There  have  lately  been 
certain  rumors  of  some  contraband  proceedings  on  the 
Yorkshire  coast  ;  not  in  Flamborough  parish,  of  course, 
and  perhaps,  probably  I  may  say,  a  long  way  off — " 

"  Papa  dear,  will  you  never  confess  that  free-trade  pre- 
vails, and  flourishes  greatly,  even  under  your  own  dear 
nose  ?" 

"  Facts  do  not  warrant  me  in  any  such  assertion.  If  the 
fact  were  so,  it  must  have  been  brought  officially  before  me. 
I  decline  to  listen  to  uncharitable  rumors.  But  however 
that  matter  may  be,  there  are  officers  on  the  spot  to  deal 
with  it.  My  commission,  as  a  justice  of  the  peace,  gives 
me  no  cognizance  of  offences — if  such  there  are — upon  the 
high  seas.  Ah,  you  see  something  particular  ;  my  dear, 
what  is  it?" 

"  Captain  Carroway  has  found  something,  or  somebody, 
of  great  importance.  He  has  got  a  man  by  the  collar,  and 
he  is  absolutely  dancing  with  delight.  Ah,  there  he  goes, 
dragging  him  along  the  deck,  as  if  he  were  a  codfish,  or  a 
conger.  And  now,  I  declare,  he  is  lashing  his  arms  and 
legs  with  a  great  thick  rope.  Papa,  is  that  legal,  without 
even  a  warrant  ?" 

44  I  can  hardly  say  how  far  his  powers  may  extend  ;  and 


138  MARY   AKERLEY. 

he  is  just  the  man  to  extend  them  farther.  I  only  hope  not 
to  be  involved  in  the  matter.  Maritime  law  is  not  my 
province.'7 

"  But,  papa,  it  is  much  within  three  miles  of  the  shore  ; 
if  that  has  got  anything  to  do  with  it.  My  goodness  me  ! 
They  are  all  coming  here  ;  I  am  almost  sure  that  they  will 
apply  to  you.  Yes,  two  boat-loads  of  people  racing  to  get 
their  oars  out,  and  to  be  here  first.  Where  are  your  spec* 
tacles,  dear  papa  ?  You  had  better  go  and  get  np  the  law 
before  they  come.  You  will  scarcely  have  time,  they  are 
coming  so  fast — a  white  boat  and  a  black  boat.  The  pris- 
oner is  in  the  white  boat,  and  the  officer  has  got  him  by  the 
collar  still.  The  men  in  the  white  boat  will  want  to  com- 
mit him  ;  and  the  men  in  the  black  boat  are  his  friends,  no 
doubt,  coming  for  a  habeas-corpus — " 

"  My  dear,  what  nonsense  you  do  talk  !  What  has  a  sim- 
ple justice  of  the  peace — " 

"  Never  mind  that,  papa,  my  facts  are  sound  ;  sounder 
than  yours  about  smuggling,  I  fear.  But  do  hurry  in,  and 
get  up  the  law.  I  will  go  and  lock  both  gates,  to  give  you 
more  time." 

"  Do  nothing  of  the  kind,  Janetta.  A  magistrate  should 
be  accessible  always  ;  and  how  can  I  get  up  the  law  with- 
out knowing  what  it  is  to  be  about — or  even  a  clerk  to  help 
me  ?  And  perhaps  they  are  not  coming  here  at  all.  They 
may  be  only  landing  their  prisoner." 

"  If  that  were  it,  they  would  not  be  coming  so  ;  but  row- 
ing toward  the  proper  place — Bridlington  Quay,  where  their 
station-house  is.  Papa,  you  are  in  for  it,  and  I  am  getting 
eager.  May  I  come  and  hear  all  about  it  ?  I  should  be  a 
great  support  to  you,  you  know.  And  they  would  tell  the 
truth  so  much  better." 

"  Janetta,  what  are  you  dreaming  of  ?  It  may  even  be 
a  case  of  secrecy." 

44  Secrecy,  papa,  with  two  boat-loads  of  men,  and  about 
thirty  ships  involved  in  it  !  Oh,  do  let  me  hear  all  about 
it  !" 

u  Whatever  it  maybe,  your  presence  is  not  required,  and 
would  be  improper.  Unless  I  should  happen  to  want  a 
book  ;  and  in  that  case  I  might  ring  for  you. ' 7 


CAUGHT  AT  LAST.  120 

"  Oh,  do,  papa,  do  !  No  one  else  can  ever  find  them. 
Promise  me  now  that  you  will  want  a  book.  If  I  am  not 
there,  there  will  be  no  justice  done.  I  wish  you  severely 
to  reprimand,  whatever  the  facts  of  the  case  may  be,  and 
even  to  punish,  if  you  can,  that  tall,  lame,  violent,  fero- 
cious man,  for  dragging  the  poor  fellow  about  like  that,  and 
cutting  him  with  ropes,  when  completely  needless,  and  when 
he  was  quite  at  his  mercy.  It  is  my  opinion  that  the  other 
man  does  not  deserve  one  bit  of  it  ;  and  whatever  the  law 
may  be,  papa,  your  duty  is  to  strain  it  benevolently,  and 
question  every  syllable  upon  the  stronger  side/' 

"  Perhaps  I  had  better  resign,  my  dear,  upon  condition 
that  you  shall  be  appointed  in  the  stead  of  me.  It  might 
be  a  popular  measure,  and  would  secure  universal  justice. " 

*'  Papa,  I  would  do  justice  to  myself — which  is  a  thing 
you  never  do.  But  here,  they  are  landing  ;  and  they  hoist 
him  out,  as  if  he  were  a  sack,  or  a  thing  without  a  joint. 
They  could  scarcely  be  harder  with  a  man  compelled  to  be 
hanged  to-morrow  morning." 

"  Condemned  is  what  you  mean,  Janetta.  You  never 
will  understand  the  use  of  words.  What  a  nice  magistrate 
you  would  make  !" 

u  There  can  be  no  more  correct  expression.  Would  any 
man  be  hanged  if  he  were  not  compelled  2  Papa,  you  say 
the  most  illegal  things  sometimes.  Now,  please  to  go  in, 
and  get  up  your  legal  points.  Let  me  go  and  meet  those 
people  for  you.  I  will  keep  them  waiting  till  you  are 
quite  ready. " 

"  My  dear,  you  will  go  to  your  room,  and  try  to  learn  a 
little  patience.  You  begin  to  be  too  pat  with  your  own 
opinions  ;  which  in  a  young  lady  is  ungraceful.  There, 
you  need  not  cry,  my  darling,  because  your  opinions  are 
aways  sensible,  and  I  value  them  very  highly  ;  but  still  you 
must  bear  in  mind  that  you  are  but  a  girl." 

i(  And  behave  accordingly,  as  they  say.  Nobody  can  do 
more  so.  But  though  I  am  only  a  girl,  papa,  can  you  put 
your  hand  upon  a  better  one  ?" 

u  Certainly  not,  my  dear  ;  for  going  down  hill,  I  can 
always  depend  on  you. " 

Suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  Dr.  Upround,  whose  feet 


130  MARY   AtfEHLEY. 

were  a  little  touched  with  gout,  came  down  from  his  out- 
look to  his  kitchen-garden,  and  thence  through  the  shrub- 
bery, back  to  his  own  study  ;  where,  with  a  little  sigh,  he 
put  away  his  chessmen,  and  heartily  hoped  that  it  might 
not  be  his  favorite  adversary  who  was  coming  before  him, 
to  be  sent  to  jail.  For  although  the  good  rector  had  a  warm 
regard,  and  even  affection,  for  Robin  Lyth,  as  a  waif  cast 
into  his  care,  and  then  a  pupil  won'derfully  apt  (which 
breeds  love  in  the  teacher),  and  after  that  a  most  gallant 
and  highly  distinguished  young  parishioner  ;  with  all  this  it 
was  a  difficulty  for  him  to  be  ignorant  that  the  law  was  hos- 
tile. More  than  once  he  had  striven  hard  to  lead  the  youth 
into  some  better  path  of  life,  and  had  even  induced  him  to 
"  follow  the  sea"  for  a  short  time,  in  the  merchant-service. 
But  the  force  of  nature  and  of  circumstances  had  very 
soon  prevailed  again,  and  Robin  returned  to  his  old  pursuits, 
with  larger  experience,  and  seamanship  improved. 

A  violent  ringing  at  the  gate-bell,  followed  by  equal 
urgency  upon  the  front-door,  apprised  the  kind  magistrate 
of  a  sharp  call  on  his  faculties,  and  perhaps  a  most  unpleas- 
ant one.  "  The  poor  boy,"  he  said  to  himself  ;  "  poor 
boy  !  From  Carro way's  excitement,  I  greatly  fear  that  it 
is  indeed  poor  Robin.  How  many  a  grand  game  have  we 
had  !  His  new  variety  of  that  fine  gambit  scarcely  begin- 
ning to  be  analyzed  ;  and  if  I  commit  him  to  the  meeting 
next  week,  when  shall  we  ever  meet  again  ?  It  will  seem 
as  if  I  did  it  because  he  won  three  games  ;  and  I  certainly 
was  a  little  vexed  with  him.  However,  I  must  be  stern, 
stern,  stern.  Show  them  in,  Betsy  ;  I  am  quite  pre- 
pared." 

A  noise,  and  a  sound  of  strong  language  in  the  hall,  and 
a  dragging  of  something  on  the  oilcloth,  led  up  to  the  entry 
of  a  dozen  rough  men,  pushed  on  by  at  least  another  dozen. 

"  You  will  have  the  manners  to  take  off  your  hats,"  said 
the  magistrate,  with  all  his  dignity  ;  "  not  from  any  undue 
deference  to  me,  but  common  respect  to  his  Majesty." 

"  Off  with  your  covers,  you  sons  of" — something, 
shouted  a  loud  voice  ;  and  then  the  lieutenant,  with  his 
blade  still  drawn,  stood  before  them. 


CAUGHT   AT   LAST.  131 

"  Sheathe  your  sword,  sir,"  said  Dr.  Upround,  in  a 
voice  which  amazed  the  officer. 

11 1  beg  your  worship's  pardon,"  he  began,  with  his  grim 
face  flushing  purple,  but  his  sword  laid  where  it  should  have 
been  ;  u  but  if  you  knew  half  of  the  worry  I  have  had,  you 
would  not  care  to  rebuke  me.  Cadman,  have  you  got  him 
by  the  neck  ?  Keep  your  knuckles  into  him,  while  I  make 
my  deposition." 

' '  Cast  that  man  free.  I  receive  no  depositions  with  a 
man  half -strangled  before  me." 

The  men  of  the  coast-guard  glanced  at  their  commander, 
and,  receiving  a  surly  nod,  obeyed.  But  the  prisoner 
could  not  stand  as  yet  ;  he  gasped  for  breath,  and  some 
one  set  him  on  a  chair. 

"  Your  worship,  this  is  a  mere  matter  of  form,"  said 
Carroway,  still  keeping  eyes  on  his  prey  ;  ' i  if  I  had  my 
own  way,  I  would  not  trouble  you  at  all,  and  I  believe  it 
to  be  quite  needless.  For  this  man  is  an  outlaw  felon,  and 
not  entitled  to  any  grace  of  law  ;  but  I  must  obey  my 
orders. ' ' 

"  Certainly  you  must,  Lieutenant  Carroway  ;  even  though 
you  are  better  acquainted  with  the  law.  You  are  ready  to 
be  sworn.  Take  this  book,  and  follow  me." 

This  being  done,  the  worthy  magistrate  prepared  to  write 
down  what  the  gallant  officer  might  say  ;  which,  in  brief, 
came  to  this,  that  having  orders  to  seize  Robin  LyU^wher- 
ever  he  might  find  him,  and  having  sure  knowle^pfc  that 
said  Robin  was  on  board  of  a  certain  schooner  vessel,  the 
Elizabeth,  of  Goole,  the  which  he  had  laden  with  •  goods 
liable  to  duty,  he,  Charles  Carroway,  had  gently  laid  hands 
on  him,  and  brought  him  to  the  nearest  justice  of  the 
peace,  to  obtain  an  order  of  commitment. 

All  this,  at  fifty  times  the  length  here  given,  Lieutenant 
Carroway  deposed  on  oath,  while  his  worship,  for  want  of  a 
clerk,  set  it  down  in  his  own  very  neat  handwriting.  But 
several  very  coaly-looking  men,  who  could  scarcely  be 
taught  to  keep  silence,  observed  that  the  magistrate  smiled 
once  or  twice  ;  and  this  made  them  wait  a  bit,  and  wink  at 
one  another. 

"  Very  clear  indeed,  Lieutenant  Carroway,"   said  Dr. 


132  MARY   ANERLEY. 

Upround,  with  spectacles  on  nose  ;  il  good  sir,  have  the 
kindness  to  sign  your  deposition.  It  may  become  my  duty 
to  commit  the  prisoner  upon  identification.  Of  that  I  must 
have  evidence,  confirmatory  evidence.  But  first  we  will 
hear  what  he  has  to  say.  Robin  Lyth,  stand  forward." 

44  Me  no  Kobin  Lyth,  sar  ;  no  Robin  man  or  woman," 
cried  the  captive,  trying  very  hard  to  stand  ;  "  me  only  a 
poor  Fran<pais,  make  liberty  to  what  you  call — row,  row, 
sweem,  sweem,  sail,  sail,  from  la  belle  France  ;  for  why, 
for  why,  there  is  no  import  to  nobody. ' ' 

44  Your  worship,  he  is  always  going  on  about  imports," 
Cadman  said  respectfully  ;  k4  that  is  enough  to  show  who 
he  is." 

44  You  may  trust  me  to  know  him,"  cried  Lieutenant 
Carroway  ;  44  my  fine  fellow,  no  more  of  that  stuff  !  He 
can  pass  himself  off  for  any  countryman  whatever.  He 
knows  all  their  jabber,  sir,  better  than  his  own.  Put  a  cork 
between  his  teeth,  Hackerbody.  I  never  did  see  such  a 
noisy  rogue.  He  is  Robin  Lyth  all  over. ' ' 

44  I'll  be  blest  if  he  is  ;  nor  under  nayther,"  cried  the 
biggest  of  the  coaly  men  ;  4 4  this  here  froggy  come  out  of  a 
Chaise  and  Mary,  as  had  run  up  from  Dunkirk.  I  know 
Robin  Lyth  as  well  as  our  own  figure-head.  But  what  good 
to  try  reason  with  that  there  revenue  officer  ?" 

At  this,  all  his  friends  set  a  good  laugh  up,  and  wanted 
to  give  him  a  cheer  for  such  a  speech  ;  but,  that  being 
hushed,*' they  were  satisfied  with  condemning  his  organs  of 
sight,  and  their  own,  quite  fairly. 

4  4  Lieutenant  Carroway, ' '  his  worship  said,  amid  an  im- 
pressive silence  ;  t4  I  greatly  fear  that  you  have  allowed 
zeal,  my  dear  sir,  to  outrun  discretion.  Robin  Lyth  is  a 
young,  and  in  many  ways  highly  respected,  parishioner  of 
mine.  He  may  have  been  guilty  of  casual  breaches  of  the 
laws  concerning  importation,  laws  which  fluctuate  from 
year  to  year,  and  require  deep  knowledge  of  legislation, 
both  to  observe  and  to  administer.  I  heartily  trust  that 
you  may  not  suffer  from  having  discharged  your  duty,  in  a 
manner  most  truly  exemplary,  if  only  the  example  had  been 
the  right  one.  This  gentleman  is  no  more  Robin  Lyth 
than  I  am." 


DISCIPLINE   ASSERTED.  133 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

DISCIPLINE     ASSERTED. 

As  soon  as  his  troublesome  visitors  were  gone,  the  rector 
sat  down  in  his  deep  arm-chair,  laid  aside  his  spectacles,  and 
began  to  think.  His  face,  while  he  thought,  lost  more  and 
more  of  the  calm  and  cheerful  expression  which  made  it 
so  pleasant  a  face  to  gaze  upon  ;  and  he  sighed,  without 
knowing  it,  at  some  dark  ideas,  and  gave  a  Tittle  shake  of 
his  grand  old  head.  The  revenue-officer  had  called  his 
favorite  pupil  and  cleverest  parishioner  "  a  felon  outlaw  ;" 
and  if  that  were  so,  Robin  Lyth  was  no  less  than  a  con- 
victed criminal,  and  must  not  be  admitted  within  his  doors. 
Formerly  the  regular  penalty  for  illicit  importation  had 
been  the  forfeiture  of  the  goods,  when  caught  ;  and  the 
smugglers  (unless  they  made  resistance,  or  carried  firearms) 
were  allowed  to  escape,  and  retrieve  their  bad  luck,  which 
they  very  soon  contrived  to  do.  And,  as  yet,  upon  this 
part  of  the  coast,  they  had  not  been  guilty  of  atrocious 
crimes,  such  as  the  smugglers  of  Sussex  and  Hampshire, 
who  must  have  been  utter  fiends,  committed,  thereby  rais- 
ing all  the  land  against  them.  Dr.  Upround  had  heard  of 
no  proclamation,  exaction,  or  even  capias,  issued  against 
this  young  free-trader  ;  and  he  knew  well  enough  that  the 
worst  offenders  were  not  the  bold  seamen  who  contracted 
for  the  run,  nor  the  people  of  the  coast  who  were  hired 
for  the  carriage,  but  the  rich  indwellers  who  provided  all  the 
money,  and  received  the  lion's  share  of  all  the  profits.  And 
with  these  the  law  never  even  tried  to  deal.  However,  the 
magistrate  parson  resolved  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  interest 
of  tutorship  and  chess-play,  and  even  all  the  influence  of 
his  wife  and  daughter  (who  were  hearty  admirers  of  brave 
smuggling),  he  must  either  reform  this  young  man,  or 
compel  him  to  keep  at  a  distance,  which  would  be  very  sad. 

Meanwhile  the  lieutenant  had  departed  in  a  fury,  which 
seemed  to  be  incapable  of  growing  any  worse.  Never  an 
oath  did  he  utter  all  the  way  to  the  landing,  where  his 
boat  was  left  ;  and  his  men,  who  knew  how  much  that 


134  MARY   AKERLEY. 

meant,  were  afraid  to  do  more  than  just  wink  at  one 
another.  Even  the  sailors  of  the  collier  schooner  forbore  to 
jeer  him,  until  he  was  afloat,  when  they  gave  him  three  fine 
rounds  of  mock-cheers,  to  which  the  poor  Frenchman  con- 
tributed a  shriek.  For  this  man  had  been  most  inhospita- 
bly treated,  through  his  strange  but  undeniable  likeness  to 
a  perfidious  Briton. 

"  Home  !"  cried  the  officer,  glowering  at  those  fellows, 
while  his  men  held  their  oars,  and  were  ready  to  rush  at 
them.  "  Home  with  a  will  !  Give  way,  men  !"  And 
not  another  word  he  spoke  till  they  touched  the  steps  at 
Bridlington.  Then  he  fixed  stern  eyes  upon  Cadman,  who 
vainly  strove  to  meet  them,  and  he  said,  "  Come  to  me  in 
one  hour  and  a  half."  Cadman  touched  his  hat  without  an 
answer,  saw  to  the  boat,  and  then  went  home  along  the 
quay. 

Carroway,  though  of  a  violent  temper,  especially  when 
laughed  at,  was  not  of  that  steadfast  and  sedentary  wrath 
which  chews  the  cud  of  grievances,  and  feeds  upon  it  in  a 
shady  place.  He  had  a  good  wife — though  a  little  over- 
clean — and  seven  fine-appetited  children,  who  gave  him  the 
greatest  pleasure  in  providing  victuals.  Also,  he  had  his 
pipe,  and  his  quiet  corners,  sacred  to  the  atmosphere,  and 
the  private  thoughts  of  Carroway.  And  here  he  would 
often  be  ambitious  even  now,  perceiving  no  good  reason 
why  he  might  not  yet  command  a  line-of -battle  ship,  and 
run  up  his  own  flag,  and  nobly  tread  his  own  lofty  quarter- 
deck. If  so,  he  would  have  Mrs.  Carroway  on  board,  and 
not  only  on  the  boards,  but  at  them  ;  so  that  a  challenge 
should  be  issued  every  day,  for  any  other  ship  in  all  the 
service  to  display  white  so  wholly  spotless,  and  black  so 
void  of  streakiness.  And  while  he  was  dwelling  upon 
personal  matters — which  after  all  concerned  the  nation 
most — he  had  tried  very  hard  to  discover  any  reason  (putting 
paltry  luck  aside)  why  Horatio  Nelson  should  be  a  lord, 
and  what  was  more  to  the  purpose,  an  admiral,  while 
Charles  Carroway  (his  old  shipmate,  and  in  every  way  su- 
perior, who  could  eat  him  at  a  mouthful,  if  only  he  were 
good  enough)  should  now  be  no  more  than  a  'long- shore 
lieutenant,  and  a  Jonathan  Wild  of  the  revenue.  How- 


DISCIPLINE   ASSEKTED.  135 

ever,  as  for  envying  Nelson,  the  Lord  knew  that  he  would 
not  give  his  little  Geraldine's  worst  frock  for  all  the  fellow's 
grand  coat- of -arms,  and  freedom  in  a  snuff-box,  and  golden 
shields,  and  devices,  this,  that,  and  the  other,  with  Pha- 
raoh of  Egypt  to  support  them. 

To  this  conclusion  he  was  fairly  come,  after  a  good  meal, 
and  with  the  second  glass  of  the  finest  Jamaica  pineapple 
rum — which  he  drank  from  pure  principle,  because  it  was 
not  smuggled — steaming  and  scenting  the  blue  curls  of  his 
pipe,  when  his  admirable  wife  came  in  to  say  that  on  no 
account  would  she  interrupt  him. 

"  My  dear,  I  am  busy,  and  am  very  glad  to  hear  it. 
Pish  !  where  have  I  put  all  those  accounts  ?" 

"  Charles,  you  are  not  doing  any  accounts.  When  you 
have  done  your  pipe  and  glass,  I  wish  to  say  a  quiet  word 
or  two.  I  am  sure  that  there  is  not  a  woman  in  a  thou- 
sand— " 

"  Matilda,  I  know  it.  Nor  one  in  fifty  thousand.  You 
are  very  good  at  figures  ;  will  you  take  this  sheet  away 
with  you  ?  Eight  o'clock  will  be  quite  time  enough  for  it. ' ' 

"  My  dear,  I  am  always  too  pleased  to  do  whatever  I 
can  to  help  you.  But  I  must  talk  to  you  now  ;  really  I 
must  say  a  few  words  about  something,  tired  as  you  may 
be,  Charles,  and  well  deserving  of  a  little  good  sleep,  which 
you  never  seem  able  to  manage  in  bed.  You  told  me,  you 
know,  that  you  expected  Cadman,  that  surly  dirty  fellow, 
who  delights  to  spoil  my  stones,  and  would  like  nothing 
better  than  to  take  the  pattern  out  of  our  drawing-room 
Kidderminster.  Now,  I  have  a  reason  for  saying  some- 
thing. Charles,  will  you  listen  to  me  once,  just  once  ?" 

"  I  never  do  anything  else,"  said  the  husband,  with 
justice,  and  meaning  no  mischief. 

"  Ah  !  how  very  seldom  you  hear  me  talk  ;  and  when  I 
do,  I  might  just  as  well  address  the  winds  !  But  for  once, 
my  dear,  attend,  I  do  implore  you.  That  surly  burly  Cad- 
man will  be  here  directly,  and  I  know  that  you  are  much 
put  out  with  him.  Now,  I  tell  you,  he  is  dangerous, 
savagely  dangerous  ;  I  can  see  it  in  his  unhealthy  skin. 
Oh,  Charles,  where  have  you  put  down  your  pipe  ?  I 
cleaned  that  shelf  this  very  morning  !  How  little  I  thought, 


136  MAEY  ANERLEY. 

when  I  promised  to  be  yours,  that  you  ever  would  knock 
out  you  ashes  like  that  !  But  do  bear  in  mind,  dear,  what- 
ever you  do,  if  anything  happened  to  you,  whatever  would 
become  of  all  of  us  ?  All  your  sweet  children,  and  your 
faithful  wife — I  declare  you  have  made  two  great  rings 
with  your  tumbler  upon  the  new  cover  of  the  table. " 

"  Matilda,  that  has  been  done  ever  so  long.  But  I  am 
almost  certain  this  tumbler  leaks. ' ' 

u  So  you  always  say  ;  just  as  if  I  would  allow  it.  You 
never  will  think  of  simply  wiping  the  rim  every  time  you 
use  it  ;  when  I  put  you  a  saucer  for  your  glass,  you  forget 
it ;  there  never  was  such  a  man,  I  do  believe.  I  shall  have 
to  stop  the  rum  and  water  altogether. ' ' 

"  No,  no,  no.  I'll  do  anything  you  like.  I'll  have  a 
tumbler  made  with  a  saucer  to  it — I'll  buy  a  piece  of  oil- 
cloth the  size  of  a  foretopsail — I'll —  " 

' '  Charles,  no  nonsense,  if  you  please  ;  as  if  I  were  ever 
unreasonable  !  But  your  quickness  .of  temper  is  such  that 
I  dread  what  you  may  say  to  that  Cadman.  Remember 
what  opportunities  he  has,  dear.  He  might  shoot  you  in 
the  dark  any  night,  my  darling,  and  put  it  upon  the  smug- 
glers. I  entreat  you  not  to  irritate  the  man,  and  make  him 
your  enemy.  He  is  so  spiteful  ;  and  I  should  be  in  terror 
the  whole  night  long. ' ' 

"  Matilda,  in  the  house  you  may  command  me  as  you 
please — even  in  my  own  cuddy  here.  But  as  regards  my 
duty,  you  know  well  that  I  permit  no  interference.  And  I 
should  have  expected  you  to  have  more  sense.  A  pretty 
officer  I  should  be  if  I  were  afraid  of  my  own  men.  When 
a  man  is  to  blame  I  tell  him  so  in  good  round  language  ; 
and  shall  do  so  now.  This  man  is  greatly  to  blame,  and  I 
doubt  whether  to  consider  him  a  fool  or  a  rogue.  If  it 
were  not  that  he  has  seven  children,  as  we  have,  I  would 
discharge  him  this  very  night." 

11  Charles,  I  am  very  sorry  for  his  seven  children  ;  but 
our  place  is  to  think  of  our  own  seven  first.  I  beg  you,  I  im- 
plore you,  to  discharge  the  man  ;  for  he  has  not  the  cour- 
age to  harm  you,  I  believe,  except  with  the  cowardly  ad- 
vantage he  has  got.  Now  promise  me  either  to  say  noth- 
ing to  him,  or  to  discharge  him,  and  be  done  with  him." 


DISCIPLINE   ASSERTED.  137 

"  Matilda,  of  such  things  you  know  nothing  ;  and  I 
cannot  allow  you  to  say  any  more." 

"  Very  well,  very  well  !  I  know  my  duty.  I  shall  sit 
up  and  pray  every  dark  night  you  are  out,  and  the  whole 
place  will  go  to  the  dogs,  of  course.  Of  the  smugglers  I 
am  not  afraid  one  bit,  nor  of  any  honest  fighting,  such  as 
you  are  used  to.  But,  oh,  my  dear  Charles,  the  very 
bravest  man  can  do  nothing  against  base  treachery." 

44  To  dream  of  such  things  shows  a  bad  imagination," 
Carroway  answered  sternly  ;  but  seeing  his  wife's  eyes  fill 
with  tears,  he  took  her  hand  gently,  and  begged  her  par- 
don, and  promised  to  be  very  careful.  4t  I  am  the  last  man 
to  be  rash, ' '  he  said  ;  i  i  after  getting  so  many  more  kicks 
than  coppers.  I  never  had  a  fellow  under  my  command 
who  would  lift  a  finger  to  harm  me.  And  you  must  re- 
member, my  darling  Tilly,  that  I  command  Englishmen, 
not  Lascars. ' ' 

With  this  she  was  forced  to  be  content,  to  the  best  of  her 
ability  ;  and  Geraldine  ran  bouncing  in  from  school,  to  fill 
her  father's  pipe  for  him  ;  so  that  by  the  time  John  Cadman 
came  his  commander  had  almost  forgotten  the  wrath  created 
by  the  failure  of  the  morning.  But  unluckily  Cadman 
had  not  forgotten  the  words  and  the  look  he  received  be- 
fore his  comrades. 

"  Here  I  am,  sir,  to  give  an  account  of  myself,"  he  said, 
in  an  insolent  tone,  having  taken  much  liquor  to  brace  him 
for  the  meeting.  "  Is  it  your  pleasure  to  say  out  what  you 
mean?" 

"  Yes,  but  not  here.  You  will  follow  me  to  the  station. " 
The  lieutenant  took  his  favorite  staff,  and  set  forth  ;  while 
his  wife,  from  the  little  window,  watched  him  with  a  very 
anxious  gaze.  She  saw  her  husband  stride  in  front,  with 
the  long  rough  gait  she  knew  so  well,  and  the  swing  of  his 
arms  which  always  showed  that  his  temper  was  not  in  its 
best  condition  ;  and  behind  him  Cadman  slouched  along, 
with  his  shoulders  up,  and  his  red  hands  clinched.  And 
the  poor  wife  sadly  went  back  to  work,  for  her  life  was  a 
truly  anxious  one. 

The  station,  as  it  was  rather  grandly  called,  was  a  hut 
about  the  size  of  a  four-post  bed,  upon  the  low  cliff,  uii- 


138  MARY   ANERLEY. 

dermined  by  the  sea,  and  even  then  threatened  to  be  swept 
away.  Here  was  a  tall  flag-staff  for  signals,  and  a  place 
for  a  beacon-light  when  needed,  and  a  bench  with  a  rest  for 
a  spy-glass.  In  the  hut  itself  were  signal-flags,  and  a  few 
spare  muskets,  and  a  keg  of  bullets,  with  maps  and  codes 
hung  round  the  wall,  and  flint  and  tinder,  and  a  good  many 
pipes,  and  odds  and  ends  on  ledges.  Carroway  was  very 
proud  of  this  place,  and  kept  the  key  strictly  in  his  own 
pocket,  and  veiy  seldom  allowed  a  man  to  pass  through  the 
narrow  doorway.  But  he  liked  to  sit  inside,  and  see  them 
looking  desirous  to  come  in. 

4  i  Stand  there,  Cadman, ' '  he  said,  as  soon  as  he  had  set- 
tled himself  in  the  one  hard  chair ;  and  the  man,  though 
thoroughly  primed  for  revolt,  obeyed  the  old  habit,  and 
stood  outside. 

"  Once  more  you  have  misled  me,  Cadman,  and  abused  my 
confidence.  More  than  that,  you  have  made  me  a  common 
laughing-stock  for  scores  of  fools,  and  even  for  a  learned 
gentleman,  magistrate  of  divinity.  I  was  not  content  with 
your  information,  until  you  confirmed  it  by  letters  you  pro- 
duced from  men  well  known  to  you,  as  you  said,  and  even 
from  the  inland  trader,  who  had  contracted  for  the  venture. 
The  schooner  Elizabeth,  of  Goole,  disguised  as  a  collier, 
was  to  bring  to,  with  Robin  Lyth  on  board  of  her,  and  the 
goods  in  her  hold  under  covering  of  coal,  and  to  run  the 

foods  at  the  South  Flamborough  landing,  this  very  night. 
have  searched  the  Elizabeth  from  stem  to  stern,  and 
the  craft  brought  up  alongside  of  her  ;  and  all  I  have 
found  is  a  wretched  Frenchman,  who  skulked  so  that  I 
made  sure  of  him  ;  and  not  a  blessed  anker  of  foreign 
brandy,  nor  even  a  forty-pound  bag  of  tea.  You  had  that 
packet  of  letters  in  you  neck-tie.  Hand  them  to  me  this 
moment — " 

1  '  If  your  honor  has  made  up  your  mind  to  think  that  a 
sailor  of  the  Royal  Navy — " 

44  Cadman,  none  of  that  !  No  lickspittle  lies  to  me  ; 
those  letters,  that  I  may  establish  them  !  You  shall  have 
them  back  if  they  are  right.  And  I  will  pay  you  a  half- 
crown  for  the  loan. ' ' 


DISCIPLINE   ASSERTED.  139 

44  If  I  was  to  leave  the  letters  in  your  hand,  I  could 
never  hold  head  up  in  Burlington  no  more." 

44  That  is  no  concern  of  mine.  Your  duty  is  to  hold  up 
your  head  with  me,  and  those  who  find  you  in  bread-and- 
butter.  " 

4<  Precious  little  butter  I  ever  gets,  and  very  little  bread 
to  speak  of.  The  folk  that  does  the  work  gets  nothing. 
Them  that  does  nothing  gets  the  name  and  game. ' ' 

44  Fellow,  no  reasoning,  but  obey  me  !"  Carroway 
shouted,  with  his  temper  rising  ;  4 4  hand  over  those  letters, 
or  you  leave  the  service. " 

44  How  can  I  give  away  another  man's  property  ?"  As 
he  said  these  words,  the  man  folded  his  arms,  as  who  should 
say,  "  That  is  all  you  get  out  of  me." 

44  Is  that  the  way  you  speak  to  your  commanding  officer  ? 
Who  owns  those  letters,  then,  according  to  your  ideas  ?" 

44  Butcher  Hewson  ;  and  he  says  that  you  shall  have 
them  as  soon  as  he  sees  the  money  for  his  little  bill. ' ' 

This  was  a  trifle  too  much  for  Carroway.  Up  he  jumped 
with  surprising  speed,  took  one  stride  through  the  station- 
door,  and  seizing  Cadnian  by  the  collar,  shook  him,  wrung 
his  ear  with  the  left  hand,  which  was  like  a  pair  of  pincers, 
and  then  with  the  other  flung  him  backward,  as  if  he  were 
an  empty  bag.  The  fellow  was  too  much  amazed  to  strike, 
or  close  with  him,  or  even  swear,  but  received  the  vehement 
impact  without  any  stay  behind  him.  So  that  he  staggered 
back,  hat  downward,  and,  striking  one  heel  on  a  stone,  fell 
over  the  brink  of  the  shallow  clin°  to  the  sand  below. 

The  lieutenant,  who  never  had  thought  of  this,  was  ter- 
ribly scared,  and  his  wrath  turned  cold.  For  although  the 
fall  was  of  no  great  depth,  and  the  ground  at  the  bottom  so 
soft,  if  the  poor  man  had  struck  it  poll  foremost,  as  he  fell, 
it  was  likely  that  his  neck  was  broken.  Without  any 
thought  of  his  crippled  heel,  Carroway  took  the  jump  him- 
self. 

As  soon  as  he  recovered  from  the  jar  which  shook  his 
stiff  joints,  and  stiffer  back,  he  ran  to  the  coast-guardsman 
and  raised  him,  and  found  him  very  much  inclined  to  swear. 
This  was  a  good  sign,  and  the  officer  was  thankful,  and 
raised  him  in  the  gravelly  sand,  and  kindly  requested  him  to 


140  MARY   AKERLEY. 

have  it  out,  and  to  thank  the  Lord,  as  soon  as  he  felt  bet- 
ter. But  Cadman,  although  he  very  soon  came  round,  ab- 
stained from  every  token  of  gratitude.  Falling  with  his 
mouth  wide  open  in  surprise,  he  had  filled  it  with  gravel  of 
inferior  taste,  as  a  tidy  sewer-pipe  ran  out  just  there,  and 
at  every  execration  he  discharged  a  little. 

44  What  can  be  done  with  a  fellow  so  ungrateful  ?"  cried 
the  lieutenant,  standing  stiffly  up  again  ;  "  nothing  but  to 
let  him  come  back  to  his  manners.  Hark  you,  John  Cad- 
man,  between  your  bad  words,  if  a  glass  of  hot  grog  will 
restore  your  right  wits,  you  can  come  up  arid  have  it  when 
your  clothes  are  brushed." 

With  these  words  Carroway  strode  off  to  his  cottage, 
without  even  deigning  to  look  back  ;  for  a  minute  had  been 
enough  to  show  him  that  no  very  serious  harm  was  done. 

The  other  man  did  not  stir  until  his  officer  was  out  of 
sight  ;  and  then  he  arose,  and  rubbed  himself,  but  did  not 
care  to  go  for  his  rummer  of  hot  grog. 

'  i  I  must  work  this  off, ' '  the  lieutenant  said,  as  soon  as  he 
had  told  his  wife,  and  received  his  scolding  ;  "  I  cannot  sit 
down  ;  I  must  do  something.  My  mind  is  becoming  too 
much  for  me,  I  fear.  Can  you  expect  ine  to  be  laughed  at  ? 
I  shall  take  a  little  sail  in-  the  boat  ;  the  wind  suits,  and  I 
have  a  particular  reason.  Expect  me,  my  dear,  when  you 
see  me." 

In  half  an  hour  the  largest  boat  which  carried  a  brass- 
swivel  gun  in  her  bows  was  stretching  gracefully  across  the 
bay,  with  her  three  white  sails  flashing  back  the  sunset. 
The  lieutenant  steered,  and  he  had  four  men  with  him,  of 
whom  Cadman  was  not  one  ;  that  worthy  being  left  at 
home  to  nurse  his  bruises  and  his  dudgeon.  These  four 
men  now  were  quite  marvellously  civil,  having  heard  of 
their  comrade's  plight,  and  being  pleased  alike  with  that 
and  with  their  commander's  prowess.  For  Cadman  was  by 
no  means  popular  among  them,  because,  though  his  pay 
was  the  same  as  theirs,  he  always  tried  to  be  looked  up  to  ; 
the  while  his  manners  were  not  distinguished,  and  scarcely 
could  be  called  polite,  when  a  supper  required  to  be  paid 
for.  In  derision  of  this,  and  of  his  desire  for  mastery,  they 
had  taken  to  call  him  u  Boatswain  Jack,"  or  u  John  Boat- 


DISCIPLINE   ASSERTED.  141 

swain, ' '  and  provoked  him  by  a  subscription  to  present  him 
with  a  pig-whistle.  For  these  were  men  who  liked  well 
enough  to  receive  hard  words  from  their  betters,  who  were 
masters  of  their  business,  but  saw  neither  virtue  nor  value 
in  submitting  to  superior  airs  from  their  equals. 

The  Royal  George,  as  this  boat  was  called,  passed 
through  the  fleet  of  quiet  vessels,  some  of  which  trembled 
for  a  second  visitation  ;  but  not  deigning  to  molest  them 
she  stood  on,  and  rounding  Flamborough  Head,  passed  by 
the  pillar  rocks  called  King  and  Queen,  and  bore  up  for  the 
North  Landing  cove.  Here  sail  was  taken  in  and  oars  were 
manned  ;  and  Carroway  ordered  his  men  to  pull  in  to  the 
entrance  of  each  of  the  well-known  caves. 

To  enter  these,  when  any  swell  is  running,  requires  great 
care  and  experience  ;  and  the  Royal  George  had  too 
much  beam  to  do  it  comfortably,  even  in  the  best  of 
weather.  And  now,  what  the  sailors  call  a  ' 4  chopping  sea' ' 
had  set  in  with  the  turn  of  the  tide,  although  the  wind  was 
still  off-shore  ;  so  that  even  to  lie-to  at  the  mouth  made 
rather  a  ticklish  job  of  it.  The  men  looked  at  one  another, 
and  did  not  like  it,  for  a  badly  handled  oar  would  have 
cast  them  on  the  rocks,  which  are  villainously  hard  and 
jagged,  and  would  stave  in  the  toughest  boat,  like  biscuit 
china.  However,  they  durst  not  say  that  they  feared  it  ; 
and  by  skill  and  steadiness  they  examined  all  three  caves 
quite  enough  to  be  certain  that  no  boat  was  in  them. 

The  largest  of  the  three,  and  perhaps  the  finest,  was  the 
one  they  first  came  to,  which  already  was  beginning  to  be 
called  the  cave  of  Robin  Lyth.  The  dome  is  very  high, 
and  sheds  down  light,  when  the  gleam  of  the  sea  strikes  in- 
ward. From  the  gloomy  mouth  of  it,  as  far  as  they  could 
venture,  the  lapping  of  the  wavelets  could  be  heard  all 
round  it,  without  a  boat,  or  even  a  balk  of  wood  to  break 
it.  Then  they  tried  echo,  whose  clear  answer  hesitates 
where  any  soft  material  is  ;  but  the  shout  rang  only  of  hard 
rock  and  glassy  water.  To  make  assurance  doubly  sure, 
they  lit  a  blue  light  and  sent  it  floating  through  the  depths, 
while  they  held  their  position  with  two  boat-hooks  and  ;i 
fender.  The  cavern  was  lit  up  with  a  very  fine  effect,  but 
not  a  soul  inside  of  it  to  animate  the  scene.  And  to  tell 


142  MARY   A3STERLEY. 

the  truth  the  bold  invaders  were  by  DO  means  grieved  at 
this  ;  for  if  there  had  been  smugglers  there  it  would  have 
been  hard  to  tackle  them. 

Hauling  off  safely,  which  was  worse  than  running  in,  they 
pulled  across  the  narrow  cove,  and,  rounding  the  little  head- 
land, examined  the  Church-cave  and  the  Dovecot  likewise, 
and  with  a  like  result.  Then  heartily  tired,  and  well  con- 
tent with  having  done  all  that  man  could  do,  they  set  sail 
again  in  the  dusk  of  the  night,  and  forged  their  way  against 
a  strong  ebb-tide  toward  the  softer  waters  of  Bridlington 
and  the  warmer  comfort  of  their  humble  homes. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

DELICATE     INQUIRIES. 

A  GENUINE  summer  day  pays  a  visit  nearly  once  in  the 
season  to  Flamborough  ;  and  when  it  does  come  it  has  a 
wonderful  effect.  Often  the  sun  shines  brightly  there,  and 
often  the  air  broods  hot  with  thunder  ;  but  the  sun  owes 
his  brightness  to  sweep  of  the  wind,  which  sweeps  away  his 
warmth  as  well  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  thunder- 
clouds, like  heavy  smoke  capping  the  headland,  may 
oppress  the  air  with  heat,  but  are  not  of  sweet  summer's 
beauty. 

For  once,  however,  the  fine  day  came,  and  the  natives 
made  haste  to  revile  it.  Before  it  was  three  hours  old  they 
had  found  a  hundred  and  fifty  faults  with  it.  Most  of  the 
men  truly  wanted  a  good  sleep,  after  being  lively  all  the 
night  upon  the  waves,  and  the  heat  and  the  yellow  light 
came  in  upon  their  eyes,  and  set  the  flies  buzzing  all  about 
them.  And  even  the  women,  who  had  slept  out  their  time, 
and  talked  quietly,  like  the  clock  ticking,  were  vexed  with 
the  sun,  which  kept  their  kettles  from  good  boiling,  and 
wrote  upon  their  faces  the  years  of  their  life.  But  each 
made  allowance  for  her  neighbor's  appearance,  on  the 
strength  of  the  troubles  she  had  been  through. 

For  the  matter  of  that,  the  sun  cared  not  the  selvage  of  a 


DELICATE   ISTQUIKIES.  143 

shadow  what  was  thought  of  him,  but  went  his  bright  way 
with  a  scattering  of  clouds  and  a  tossing  of  vapors,  any- 
where. Upon  the  few  fishermen,  who  gave  up  hope  of 
sleep,  and  came  to  stand  dazed  in  their  doorways,  the  glare 
of  white  walls  and  chalky  stones  and  dusty  roads  pro- 
duced the  same  effect  as  if  they  had  put  on  their  father's 
goggles.  Therefore  they  yawned  their  way  back  to  their 
room,  and  poked  up  the  fire,  without  which,  at  Flam- 
borough,  no  hot  weather  would  be  half  hot  enough. 

The  children,  however,  were  wide  awake,  and  so  were 
the  washerwomen,  whose  turn  it  had  been  to  sleep  last 
night  for  the  labors  of  the  morning.  These  were  plying 
hand  and  tongue,  in  a  little  field  by  the  three  cross-roads, 
where  gaffers  and  gammers  of  bygone  time  had  set  up 
troughs  of  proven  wood,  and  the  bilge  of  a  long  storm- 
beaten  boat,  near  a  pool  of  softish  water.  Stout  brown 
arms  were  roped  with  curd,  and  wedding-rings  looked  slip- 
pery things,  and  thumb-nails  bordered  with  inveterate  black, 
like  broad  beans  ripe  for  planting,  shone  through  a  hubbub 
of  snowy  froth  ;  while  sluicing,  and  wringing,  and  rinsing 
went  on,  over  the  bubbled  and  lathery  turf  ;  and  every 
handy  bush  or  stub,  and  every  tump  of  wiry  grass  was 
sheeted  with  white,  like  a  ship  in  full  sail,  and  shining  in 
the  sun -glare. 

From  time  to  time  these  active  women  glanced  back  at 
their  cottages,  to  see  that  the  hearth  was  still  alive,  or  at 
their  little  daughters  squatting  under  the  low  wall  which 
kept  them  from  the  road,  where  they  had  got  all  the  babies 
to  nurse,  and  their  toes  and  other  members  to  compare, 
and  dandelion  chains  to  make.  But  from  their  washing- 
ground  the  women  could  not  see  the  hill  that  brings  to  the 
bottom  of  the  village  the  crooked  road  from  Sewerby. 
Down  that  hill  came  a  horseman  slowly,  with  nobody  to 
notice  him,  though  himself  on  the  watch  for  everybody  ; 
and  there  in  the  bottom  below  the  first  cottage  he  allowed 
his  horse  to  turn  aside,  and  cool  hot  feet  and  leathery  lips 
in  a  brown  pool  spread  by  Providence  for  the  comfort  of 
wayworn  roadsters. 

The  horse  looked  as  if  he  had  labored  far,  while  his  rider 
was  calmly  resting  ;  for  the  cross-felled  sutures  of  his  flank 


144  MAEY  AKEIILEY. 

were  crusted  with  gray  perspiration,  and  the  runnels  of  his 
shoulders  were  dabbled  ;  and  now  it  behoved  him  to  be 
careful  how  he  sucked  the  earthy -flavored  water,  so  as  to 
keep  time  with  the  heaving  of  his  barrel.  In  a  word,  he 
was  drinking  as  if  he  would  burst — as  his  hostler  at  home 
often  told  him — but  the  clever  old  roadster  knew  better 
than  that,  and  timing  it  well  between  snorts  and  coughs 
was  tightening  his  girths  with  deep  pleasure. 

44  Enough,  my  friend,  is  as  good  as  a  feast,"  said  his 
rider  to  him  gently,  yet  strongly  pulling  up  the  far-stretched 
head  ;  "  and  too  much  is  worse  than  famine." 

The  horse,  though  he  did  not  belong  to  this  gentleman, 
but  was  hired  by  him  only  yesterday,  had  already  dis- 
covered that,  with  him  on  his  back,  his  own  judgment  must 
lie  dormant,  so  that  he  quietly  whisked  his  tail  and  glanced 
with  regret  at  the  waste  of  his  drip,  and  then,  with  a 
roundabout  step,  to  prolong  the  pleasure  of  this  little  wade, 
sadly  but  steadily  out  he  walked,  and,  after  the  necessary 
shake,  began  his  first  invasion  of  the  village.  His  rider 
said  nothing,  but  kept  a  sharp  lookout. 

Now  this  was  Master  Geoffrey  Mordacks,  of  the  ancient 
city  of  York,  a  general  factor  and  land  agent.  What  a 
"  general  factor"  is,  or  is  not,  none  but  himself  can  pretend 
to  say,  even  in  these  days  of  definition,  and  far  less  in  times 
when  thought  was  loose  ;  and  perhaps  Mr.  Mordacks  would 
rather  have  it  so.  But  any  one  who  paid  him  well  could 
trust  him,  according  to  the  ancient  state  of  things.  To 
look  at  him,  nobody  would  even  dare  to  think  that  money 
could  be  a  consideration  to  him,  or  the  name  of  it  other 
than  an  insult.  So  lofty  and  steadfast  his  whole  appear- 
ance was,  and  he  put  back  his  shoulders  so  manfully.  Up- 
right, stiff,  and  well-appointed,  with  a  Roman  nose,  he 
rode  with  the  seat  of  a  soldier  and  the  decision  of  a  tax- 
collector.  From  his  long  steel  spurs  to  his  hard  coned  hat 
not  a  soft  line  was  there,  nor  a  feeble  curve.  Stern  hon- 
esty and  strict  purpose  stamped  every  open  piece  of  him  so 
strictly,  that  a  man  in  a  hedgerow  fostering  devious  princi- 
ples, and  resolved  to  try  them,  could  do  no  more  than  run 
away,  and  be  thankful  for  the  chance  of  it. 

But  in  those  rough  and  dangerous  times,  when  thousands 


DELICATE   IKQUIKIES.  145 

of  people  were  starving,  the  view  of  a  pistol-butt  went  far- 
ther than  sternest  aspect  of  strong  eyes.  Geoffrey  Mo'rdacks 
well  knew  this,  and  did  not  neglect  his  knowledge.  The 
brown  walnut  stock  of  a  heavy  pistol*  shone  above  either 
holster,  and  a  cavalry  sword  in  a  leathern  scabbard  hung 
within  easy  reach  of  hand.  Altogether  this  gentleman 
seemed  not  one  to  be  rashly  attacked  by  daylight. 

No  man  had  ever  dreamed  as  yet  of  coming  to  this  out- 
landish place  for  pleasure  of  the  prospect.  So  that  when 
this  lonely  rider- was  descried  from  the  washing-field  over 
the  low  wall  of  the  lane,  the  women  made  up  their  minds 
at  once  that  it  must  be  a  justice  of  the  peace,  or  some  great 
rider  of  the  revenue,  on  his  way  to  see  Dr.  Upandown,  or  at 
the  least  a  high  constable  concerned  with  some  great  sheep- 
stealing.  Not  that  any  such  crime  was  known  in  the  village 
itself  of  Flamborough,  which  confined  its  operations  to  the 
sea  ;  but  in  the  outer  world  of  land  that  malady  was  rife 
just  now,  and  a  Flamborough  man,  too  fond  of  mutton, 
had  farmed  some  sheep  on  the  downs,  and  lost  them,  which 
was  considered  a  judgment  on  him  for  wilfully  quitting 
ancestral  ways. 

But  instead  of  turning  at  the  corner  where  the  rector  was 
trying  to  grow  some  trees,  the  stranger  kept  on  along  the 
rugged  highway,  and  between  the  straggling  cottages,  so 
that  the  women  rinsed  their  arms,  and  turned  round  to  take 
a  good  look  at  him,  over  the  brambles  and  furze,  and  the 
wall  of  chalky  flint  and  rubble.  , 

"  This  is  just  what  I  wanted/'  thought  Geoffrey  Mor- 
dacks  ;  "  skill  makes  luck,  and  I  am  always  lucky.  Now, 
first  of  all,  to  recruit  the  inner  man." 

At  this  time,  Mrs.  Theophila  Precious,  generally  called 
u  Tapsy,"  the  widow  of  a  man  who  had  been  lost  at  sea, 
kept  the  "  Cod  with  a  Hook  in  his  Gills, "  the  only  hostelry 
in  Flamborough  village  ;  although  there  was  another  toward 
the  Landing.  The  cod  had  been  painted  from  life — or 
death — by  a  clever  old  fisherman  who  understood  him,  and 
he  looked  so  firm,  and  stiff,  and  hard,  that  a  healthy  man, 
with  purse  enough  to  tire  of  butcher's  meat,  might  grow  in 
appetite  by  gazing.  Mr.  Mordacks  pulled  up  and  fixed 
steadfast  eyes  upon  this  noble  fish  ;  the  while  a  score  of 
•  10 


146  MARY   ASTERLEY. 

sharp  eyes  from  the  green  and  white  meadow  were  fixed 
steadfastly  on  him. 

il  How  he  shines  with  salt  water  !  How  firm  he  looks, 
and  his  gills  as  bright  as  a  rose  in  June  !  I  have  never  yet 
tasted  a  cod  at  first  hand.  It  is  early  in  the  day,  but  the 
air  is  hungry.  My  expenses  are  paid,  and  I  mean  to  live 
well  ;  for  a  strong  mind  will  be  required.  I  will  have  a 
cut  out  of  that  fish,  to  begin  with." 

Inditing  of  this,  and  of  matters  even  better,  the  rider 
turned  into  the  yard  of  the  inn,  where  an  old  boat  (as  usual) 
stood  for  a  horse-trough,  and  sea- tubs  served  as  buckets. 
Strong  sunshine  glared  upon  the  over-saling  tiles,  and  white 
buckled  walls,  and  cracky  lintels  ;  but  nothing  showed  life, 
except  an  old  yellow  cat,  and  a  pair  of  house  martins  who 
had  scarcely  time  to  breathe,  such  a  number  of  little  heads 
flipped  out  with  a  white  flap  under  the  beak  of  each, 
demanding  momentous  victualling.  At  these  the  yellow 
cat  winked  with  dreamy  joyfulness,  well  aware  how  fat  they 
would  be  when  they  came  to  tumble  out. 

"  What  a  place  of  vile  laziness  !"  grumbled  Mr.  Mor- 
dacks,  as  he  got  off  his  horse,  after  vainly  shouting  i  i  Hos- 
tler !"  and  led  him  to  the  byre,  which  did  duty  for  a  stable. 
"  York  is  a  lazy  hole  enough  ;  but  the  farther  you  go  from 
it  the  lazier  they  get.  No  energy,  no  movement,  no  ambi- 
tion anywhere.  What  a  country,  what  a  people  !  I  shall 
have  to  go  back  and  enlist  the  washerwomen." 

A  Yorkshire  man  might  have  answered  this  complaint, 
if  he  thought  it  deserving  of  an  answer,  by  requesting  Mas- 
ter Mordacks  not  to  be  so  over-quick,  but  to  bide  a  wee  bit 
longer  before  he  made  so  sure  of  the  vast  superiority  of  his 
own  wit,  for  the  long  heads  might  prove  better  than  the 
sharp  ones  in  the  end  of  it.  However,  the  general  factor 
thought  that  he  could  not  have  coine  to  a  better  place  to 
get  all  that  he  wanted  out  of  everybody.  He  put  away  his 
saddle,  and  the  saddle-bags  and  sword,  in  a  rough  old  sea- 
chest  with  a  padlock  to  it,  and  having  a  sprinkle  of  chaff  at 
the  bottom.  Then  he  calmly  took  the  key,  as  if  the  place 
were  his,  gave  his  horse  a  rackful  of  long  cut  grass,  and 
presented  himself,  with  a  lordly  aspect,  at  the  front  door 
of  the  silent  inn.  Here  he  made  noise  enough  to  stir  the 


DELICATE   INQUIRIES.  147 

dead  ;  and  at  the  conclusion  of  a  reasonable  time,  during 
\vhich  she  had  finished  a  pleasant  dream  to  the  simmering 
of  the  kitchen  pot,  the  landlady  showed  herself  in  the  dis- 
tance, feeling  for  her  keys  with  one  hand,  and  rubbing  her 
eyes  with  the  other.  This  was  the  head  woman  of  the  vil- 
lage, but  seldom  tyrannical,  unless  ill-treated,  Widow  Pre- 
cious, tall  and  square,  and  of  no  mean  capacity. 

44  Young  mon,"  with  a  deep  voice  she  said,  44  what  is 
tha'  deein'  wi'  aw  that  clatter  ?" 

"  Alas,  my  dear  madam,  I  am  not  a  young  man  ;  and 
therefore  time  is  more  precious  to  me.  1  have  lived  out 
half  my  allotted  span,  and  shall  never  complete  it,  unless  I 
get  food." 

44  T'  life  o'  mon  is  aw  a  hoory, "  replied  Widow  Precious 
with  slow  truth.  44  Young  mon,  what  '11  ye  hev  ?" 

44  Dinner,  madam  ;  dinner  at  the  earliest  moment.  I 
have  ridden  far,  and  my  back  is  sore,  and  my  substance  is 
calling  for  renewal." 

44  Ate,  ate,  ate,  that's  t'  waa-of  aw  menkins.  Bud  ye 
maa  coorn  in,  and  crack  o'  it." 

44  Madam,  you  are  most  hospitable  ;  and  the  place  alto- 
gether seems  to  be  of  that  description.  What  a  beautiful 
room  !  May  I  sit  down  ?  I  perceive  a  fine  smell  of  most 
delicate  soup.  Ah,  you  know  how  to  do  things  at  Flam- 
borough.  ' ' 

44  Young  mon,  ye  can  ha'  mine  of  yon  potty.  Yon's  for 
inesell  and  t'  childer." 

44  My  excellent  hostess,  mistake  me  not.  I  do  not  aspire 
to  such  lofty  pot-luck.  I  simply  referred  to  it  as  a  proof 
of  your  admirable  culinary  powers." 

44  Yon's  beeg  words.     What  '11  ye  hev  tc  ate  ?" 

44  A  fish  like  that  upon  your  sign-post,  madam  ;  or  at 
least  the  upper  half  of  him,  and  three  dozen  oysters  just 
out  of  the  sea,  swimming  in  their  own  juice,  with  lovely 
melted  butter." 

44  Young  mon,  hast  tha7  gotten  t'  brass  ?  Them  'at  ates 
offens  forgets  t'  reck'nin'." 

44  Yes,  madam,  1  have  the  needful  in  abundance.  Ecce 
signum  /  Which  is  Latin,  madam,  for  the  stamps  of  the 
king  upon  twenty  guineas.  One  to  be  deposited  in  your 


148  MARY   AKEELEY. 

fair  hand  for  a  taste,  for  a  sniff,  madam,  such  as  I  had  of 
your  pot. '  * 

"  Na,  na.  No  tokkins  till  a'  aimed  them.  What  ood 
your  warship  be  for  ating  when  a'  boileth  V 

The  general  factor,  perceiving  his  way,  was  steadfast 
to  the  shoulder-cut  of  a  decent  cod  ;  and  though  the  full 
season  was  scarcely  yet  come,  Mrs.  Precious  knew  where  to 
find  one.  Oysters  there  were  none,  but  she  gave  him  boiled 
limpets,  and  he  thought  it  the  manner  of  the  place  that 
made  them  tough.  After  these  things  he  had  a  duck  of 
the  noblest  and  best  that  live  anywhere  in  England.  Such 
ducks  were  then,  and  perhaps  are  still,  the  most  remarkable 
residents  of  Flamborough.  Not  only  because  the  air  is 
fine,  and  the  puddles  and  the  dabblings  of  extraordinary 
merit,  and  the  wind  fluffs  up  their  pretty  feathers  while 
alive,  as  the  eloquent  poulterer  by  and  by  will  do  ;  but 
because  they  have  really  distinguished  birth,  and  adventur- 
ous, chivalrous,  and  bright  blue  Norman  blood.  To  such 
purpose  do  the  gay  young-  Vikings  of  the  world  of  quack 
pour  in  (when  the  weather  and  the  time  of  the  year  invite), 
equipped  with  red  boots  and  plumes  of  purple  velvet,  to 
enchant  the  coy  lady  ducks  in  soft  water,  and  eclipse  the 
familiar  and  too  legal  drake.  For  a  while  they  revel  in  the 
change  of  scene,  the  luxury  of  unsalted  mud  and  scarcely 
rippled  water,  and  the  sweetness  and  culture  of  tame  dilly- 
ducks,  to  whom  their  brilliant  bravery,  as  well  as  an  air  of 
romance  and  billowy  peril,  commend  them  too  seductively. 
The  responsible  sire  of  the  pond  is  grieved,  sinks  his  unap- 
preciated bill  into  his  back,  and  vainly  reflects  upon  the 
vanity  of  love. 

From  a  loftier  point  of  view,  however,  this  is  a  fine 
provision  ;  and  Mr.  Mordacks  always  took  a  lofty  view  of 
everything. 

"  A  beautiful  duck,  ma'am,  a  very  grand  duck  !"  in  his 
usual  loud  and  masterful  tone,  he  exclaimed  to  Widow  Pre- 
cious. "  I  understand  your  question  now  as  to  my  ability 
to  pay  for  him.  Madam,  he  is  worth  a  man's  last  shilling. 
A  goose  is  a  smaller  and  a  coarser  bird.  In  what  manner 
do  you  get  them  ?" 


DELICATE   INQUIRIES.  149 

"  They  gets  their  own  sells,  wi'  the  will  of  the  Lord. 
What  will  your  warship  be  for  ating,  come  after  ?" 

* '  None  of  your  puddings  and  pies,  if  you  please,  nor  your 
excellent  jellies  and  custards.  A  red  Dutch  cheese,  with  a 
pat  of  fresh  butter,  and  another  imperial  pint  of  ale." 

"  Now  yon  is  what  I  call  a  man/'  thought  Mrs.  Pre- 
cious, having  neither  pie  nor  pudding,  as  Master  Mordacks 
was  well  aware  ;  "  aisy  to  please,  and  a'  knoweth  what  a' 
wants.  A'  nought  a'  been  born  i'  Flaambro.  A'  maa 
baide  for  a  week,  if  a'  hath  the  tokkins." 

Mr.  Mordacks  felt  that  he  had  made  his  footing  ;  but  he 
was  not  the  man  to  abide  for  a  week,  where  a  day  would 
suit  his  purpose.  His  rule  was  never  to  beat  about  the 
bush  when  he  could  break  through  it,  and  he  thought  that 
he  saw  his  way  to  do  so  now.  Having  finished  his  meal, 
he  set  down  his  knife  with  a  bang,  sat  upright  in  the  oaken 
chair,  and  gazed  in  a  bold  yet  pleasant  manner  at  the  sturdy 
hostess. 

"  You  are  wondering  what  has  brought  me  here.  That 
I  will  tell  you  in  a  very  few  words.  Whatever  I  do  is 
straightforward,  madam  ;  and  all  the  world  may  know  it. 
That  has  been  my  character  throughout  life  ;  and  in  that 
respect  I  differ  from  the  great  bulk  of  mankind.  You 
Flamborough  folk,  however,  are  much  of  the  very  same 
nature  as  I  am.  We  ought  to  get  on  well  together.  Times 
are  very  bad,  very  bad  indeed.  I  could  put  a  good  trifle 
of  money  in  your  way  ;  but  you  tell  the  truth  without  it, 
which  is  very,  very  noble.  Yet  people  with  a  family  have 
duties  to  discharge  to  them,  and  must  sacrifice  their  feel- 
ings to  affection.  Fifty  guineas  is  a  tidy  little  figure, 
ma'am.  With  the  famine  growing  in  the  land,  no  parent 
should  turn  his  honest  back  upon  fifty  guineas.  And  to 
get  the  gold,  and  do  good  at  the  same  time,  is  a  very  rare 
chance  indeed." 

This  speech  was  too  much  for  Widow  Precious  to  carry 
to  her  settled  judgment,  and  get  verdict  in  a  breath.  She 
liked  it,  on  the  whole,  but  yet  there  might  be  many  things 
upon  the  other  side  ;  so  she  did  what  Flamborough  generally 
does,  when  desirous  to  consider  things,  as  it  generally  is. 
That  is  to  say,  she  stood  with  her  feet  well  apart,  and  her 


150  MARY   AKERLEY. 

arms  akimbo,  and  her  head  thrown  back  to  give  the  hinder 
part  a  rest,  and  no  sign  of  speculation  in  her  eyes,  although 
they  certainly  were  not  dull.  When  these  good  people  are 
in  this  frame  of  mind  and  body  it  is  hard  to  say  whether 
they  look  more  wise  or  foolish.  Mr.  Mordacks,  impatient 
as  he  was,  even  after  so  fine  a  dinner,  was  not  far  from 
catching  the  infection  of  slow  thought,  which  spreads  itself 
as  pleasantly  as  that  of  slow  discourse. 

44  You  are  heeding  me,  madam  ;  you  have  quick  wits," 
he  said,  without  any  sarcasm,  for  she  rescued  the  time 
from  waste  by  affording  a  study  of  the  deepest  wisdom  ; 
"  you  are  wondering  how  the  money  is  to  come,  and 
whether  it  brings  any  risk  with  it.  No,  Mistress  Precious, 
not  a  particle  of  risk.  A  little  honest  speaking  is  the  one 
thing  needed. " 

44  The  money  cometh  scores  of  times,  more  freely  fra' 
wrong-doing. " 

44  Your  observation,  madam,  shows  a  deep  acquaintance 
with  the  human  race.  Too  often  the  money  does  come  so  ; 
and  thus  it  becomes  mere  mammon.  On  such  occasions 
we  should  wash  our  hands,  and  not  forget  the  charities. 
But  the  beauty  of  money,  fairly  come  by,  is  that  we  can 
keep  it  all.  To  do  good  in  getting  it,  and  do  good  with  it, 
and  to  feel  ourselves  better  in  every  way,  and  our  dear 
children  happier — this  is  the  true  way  of  considering  the 
question.  I  saw  some  pretty  little  dears  peeping  in,  and 
wanted  to  give  them  a  token  or  two,  for  I  do  love  superior 
children.  But  you  called  them  away,  madam.  You  are  too 
stern." 

Widow  Precious  had  plenty  of  sharp  sense  to  tell  her 
that  her  children  were  by  no  means  "  pretty  dears"  to 
anybody  but  herself,  and  to  herself  only  when  in  a  very  soft 
state  of  mind  ;  at  other  times  they  were  but  three  gew- 
mouthed  lasses,  and  two  looby  loons  with  teeth  enough  for 
crunching  up  the  dripping-pan. 

44  Your  warship  spaketh  fair,"  she  said  ;  "  a'most  too 
fair,  I'm  doubting.  Wad  ye  say  what  the  man  ing  is,  and 
what  name  goeth  pledge  for  the  feefty  poon,  sir  ?" 

4  4  Mistress  Precious,  my  meaning  always  is  plainer  than 


DELICATE   INQUIRIES.  151 

a  pikestaff  ;  and  as  to  pledges,  the  pledge  is  the  hard  cash 
down  upon  the  nail,  ma'am." 

"  Bank-tokkins,  mayhap,  and  I  prummeese  to  paa,  with 
the  sign  of  the  Dragon,  and  a  woman  among  sheeps. '  ' 

"  Madam,  a  bag  of  solid  gold  that  can  be  weighed  and 
counted.  Fifty  new  guineas  from  the  mint  of  King  George, 
in  a  water-proof  bag  just  fit  to  be  buried  at  the  foot  of  a 
tree,  or  well  under  the  thatch,  or  sewn  up  in  the  sacking  of 
your  bedstead,  ma'am.  Ah,  pretty  dreams,  what  pretty 
dreams,  with  a  virtuous  knowledge  of  having  done  the 
right  !  Shall  we  say  it  is  a  bargain,  ma'am,  and  wet  it 
with  a  glass,  at  my  expense,  of  the  crystal  spring  that  comes 
under  the  sea  ?" 

11  Naw,  sir,  naw  ! — not  till  I  knaw  what.  Iniver  trafficks 
with  the  Divil,  sir.  There  wur  a  chap  of  Flaambro'  deed — " 

"  My  good  madam,  I  cannot  stop  all  day.  I  have  far  to 
ride  before  nightfall.  All  that  I  want  is  simply  this,  and 
having  gone  so  far,  I  must  tell  you  all,  or  make  an  enemy 
of  you.  I  want  to  match  this  ;  and  I  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  it  can  be.  matched  in  Flamborough.  Produce  me 
the  fellow,  and  I  pay  you  fifty  guineas. ' ' 

With  these  words  Mr.  Mordacks  took  from  an  inner 
pocket  a  little  pill-box,  and  thence  produced  a  globe,  or 
rather  an  oblate  spheroid  of  bright  gold,  rather  larger  than 
a  musket-ball,  but  fluted  or  crenelled  like  a  poppy-head, 
and  stamped  or  embossed  with  marks  like  letters.  Widow 
Precious  looked  down  at  it,  as  if  to  think  what  an  extraor- 
dinary thing  it  was,  but  truly  to  hide  from  the  stranger  her 
surprise  at  the  sudden  recognition.  For  Robin  Lyth  was  a 
foremost  favorite  of  hers,  and  most  useful  to  her  vocation  ; 
and  neither  fifty  guineas  nor  five  hundred  should  lead  her 
to  do  him  an  injury.  At  a  glance  she  had  known  that  this 
bead  must  belong  to  the  set  from  which  Robin's  ear-rings 
came  ;  and  perhaps  it  was  her  conscience  which  helped  her 
to  suspect  that  a  trap  was  being  laid  for  the  free-trade  hero. 
To  recover  herself,  and  have  time  to  think,  as  well  as  for 
closer  discretion,  she  invited  Master  Mordacks  to  the  choice 
guest-chamber. 

"  Set  ye  doon,  sir,  hcreaboot,"  she  said,  opening  a  solid 
door  into  the  inner  room  ;  u  neaver  gain  no  fear  at  aw'  o' 


152  MAKY   ANERLEY. 

crackin'  o'  the  settles  ;  fairm,  fairm  anoo'  they  be,  thoo 
sketterish  o'  their  lukes,  sir.  Set  ye  doon,  your  warship  ; 
fafty  poons  desarveth  a  good  room,  wi'oot  ony  lugs  o' 
anemees. ' ' 

"  What  a  beautiful  room  !"  exclaimed  Mr.  Mordacks  ; 
"  and  how  it  savors  of  the  place  !  I  never  should  have 
thought  of  finding  art  and  taste  of  such  degree  in  a  little 
place  like  Flamborough.  Why,  madam,  you  must  have 
inherited  it  direct  from  the  Danes  themselves." 

"  Naw,  sir,  naw.  I  fetched  it  aw'  oop  fra'  the  breck  of 
the  say  and  the  cobbles.  Book-folk  tooneth  naw  heed  o' 
what  we  do." 

"  Well,  it  is  worth  a  great  deal  of  heed.  Lovely  pat- 
terns of  sea-weed  on  the  floor,  no  carpet  can  compare  with 
them  ;  shelves  of — I'm  sure  I  don't  know  what — fished  up 
from  the  deep,  no  doubt  ;  and  shells  innumerable,  and 
stones  that  glitter,  and  fish  like  glass,  and  tufts  like  lace, 
and  birds  with  most  wonderful  things  in  their  mouths  ; 
Mistress  Precious,  you  are  too  bad.  The  whole  of  it  ought 
to  go  to  London,  where  they  make  collections  !" 

"  Lor,  sir,  how  ye'  da  be  laffin'  at  me.  But  purty  maa 
be  said  of  'em  wi'out  ony  lees." 

The  landlady  smiled  as  she  set  for  him  a  chair,  toward 
which  he  trod  gingerly  and  picking  every  step,  for  his  own 
sake  as  well  as  of  the  garniture.  For  the  black  oak  floor 
was  so  oiled  and  polished,  to  set  off  the  pattern  of  the  sea- 
flowers  on  it  (which  really  were  laid  with  no  mean  taste,  and 
no  small  sense  of  color),  that  for  slippery  boots  there  was 
some  peril. 

"  This  is  a  sacred  as  well  as  beautiful  place,"  said  Mr. 
Mordacks.  "  I  may  finish  my  words  with  safety  here. 
Madam,  I  commend  your  prudence  as  well  as  your  excellent 
skill  and  industry.  I  should  like  to  bring  my  daughter 
Arabella  here  ;  what  a  lesson  she  would  gain  for  tapestry  ! 
But  now  again,  for  business.  What  do  you  say  ?  Unless 
I  am  mistaken,  you  have  some  knowledge  of  the  matter  de- 
pending on  this  bauble.  You  must  not  suppose  that  I 
came  to  you  at  random.  No,  madam,  no  ;  I  have  heard 
far  away  of  your  great  intelligence,  caution,  and  skill,  and 
influence  in  this  important  town.  '  Mistress  Precious  is 


DELICATE   INQUIRIES.  153 

the  Mayor  of  Flamborough, '  was  said  to  me  only  last  Sat- 
urday ;  '  if  you  would  study  the  wise  people  there,  hang 
up  your  hat  in  her  noble  hostlery.7  Madam,  I  have  taken 
that  advice,  and  heartily  rejoice  at  doing  so.  I  am  a  man 
of  few  words,  very  few  words — as  you  must  have  seen  al- 
ready— but  of  the  strictest  straightforwardness  in  deeds. 
And  now  again,  What  do  you  say,  ma'am  ?" 

"  Your  warship  hath  left  ma  nowt  to  saa.  Your  war- 
ship hath  had  the  mooth  aw  to  yosell." 

"  Now  Mistress,  Mistress  Precious,  truly  that  is  a  little 
too  bad  of  you.  It  is  out  of  my  power  to  help  admiring 
things  which  are  utterly  beyond  me  to  describe,  and  a  din- 
ner of  such  cooking  may  enlarge  the  tongue,  after  all  the 
fine  things  it  has  been  rolling  in.  But  business  is  my 
motto,  in  the  fewest  words  that  may  be.  You  know  what 
I  want  ;  you  will  keep  it  to  yourself,  otherwise  other  people 
might  demand  the  money.  Through  very  simple  channels 
you  will  find  out  whether  the  fellow  thing  to  this  can  be 
found  here,  or  elsewhere  ;  and  if  so,  who  has  got  it,  and 
how  it  was  come  by,  and  everything  else  that  can  be  learn- 
ed about  it  ;  and  when  you  know  all,  you  just  make  a  mark 
on  this  piece  of  paper,  ready  folded  and  addressed  ;  and 
then  you  will  seal  it,  and  give  it  to  the  man  who  calls  for 
the  letters  nearly  twice  a  week.  And  when  I  get  that 
I  come  and  eat  another  duck,  and  have  oysters  with  my 
codfish,  which  to-day  we  could  not  have,  except  in  the  form 
of  mussels,  ma'am." 

"  Naw,  not  a  moosel — they  was  aw'  gude  flithers." 

"  Well,  ma'am,  they  may  have  been  unknown  animals  ; 
but  good  they  were,  and  as  fresh  as  the  day.  Now,  you 
will  remember  that  my  desire  is  to  do  good.  I  have  noth- 
ing to  do  with  the  revenue,  nor  the  magistrates,  nor  his 
Majesty.  I  shall  not  even  go  to  your  parson,  who  is  the 
chief  authority,  I  am  told  ;  for  I  wish  this  matter  to  be 
kept  quiet,  and  beside  the  law  altogether.  The  whole 
credit  of  it  shall  belong  to  you,  and  a  truly  good  action 
you  will  have  performed,  and  done  a  little  good  for  your 
own  good  self.  As  for  this  trinket,  I  do  not  leave  it  with 
you,  but  I  leave  you  this  model  in  wax,  ma'am,  made  by 
my  daughter,  who  is  very  clever.  From  this  you  can  judge 


154  MARY   ANERLEY. 

quite  as  well  as  from  the  other.  If  there  are  any  more  of 
these  things  in  Flamborough,  as  I  have  strong-  reason  to 
believe,  you  will  know  best  where  to  find  them,  and  I  need 
not  tell  you  that  they  are  almost  certain  to  be  in  the  pos- 
session of  a  woman.  You  know  all  the  women,  and  you 
skilfully  inquire,  without  even  letting  them  suspect  it. 
Now,  I  shall  just  stretch  my  legs  a  Tittle,  and  look  at 
your  noble  prospect,  and  in  three  hours'  time  a  little  more 
refreshment,  and  then,  Mistress  Precious,  you  see  the  last 
of  your  obedient  servant,  until  you  demand  from  him  fifty 
gold  guineas. " 

After  seeing  to  his  horse  again  he  set  forth  for  a  stroll, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  met  with  Dr.  Upround  and  his 
daughter.  The  rector  looked  hard  at  this  distinguished 
stranger,  as  if  he  desired  to  know  his  name,  and  expected 
to  be  accosted  by  him,  while  quick  Miss  Janetta  glanced 
with  undisguised  suspicion,  and  asked  her  father,  so  that 
Mr.  Mordacks  overheard  it,  what  business  such  a  man  could 
have,  and  what  could  he  come  spying  after,  in  their  quiet 
parish  ?  The  general  factor  raised  his  hat,  and  passed  on 
with  a  tranquil  smile,  taking  the  crooked  path  which  leads 
along  and  around  the  cliffs,  by  way  of  the  light-house,  from 
the  north  to  the  southern  landing.  The  present  light-house 
was  not  yet  built  ;  but  an  old  round  tower,  which  still  ex- 
ists, had  long  been  used  as  a  signal-station,  for  semaphore 
by  day,  and  at  night  for  beacon,  in  the  times  of  war  and 
tumult  ;  and  most  people  called  it  the  * '  Monument. ' '  This 
station  was  now  of  very  small  importance,  and  sometimes 
did  nothing  for  a  year  together  ;  but  still  it  was  very  good 
and  useful,  because  it  enabled  an  ancient  tar,  whose  feet 
had  been  carried  away  by  a  cannon-ball,  to  draw  a  little 
money  once  a  month,  and  to  think  himself  still  a  fine  Brit- 
ish bulwark. 

In  the  summer-time  this  hero  always  slung  his  hammock 
here,  with  plenty  of  wind  to  rock  him  off  to  sleep  ;  but  in 
winter  King  ^Eolus  himself  could  not  have  borne  it. 
"  Monument  Joe,"  as  almost  everybody  called  him,  was  a 
queer  old  character  of  days  gone  by.  Sturdy  and  silent, 
but  as  honest  as  the  sun,  he  made  his  rounds  as  regularly  as 
that  great  orb,  and  with  equally  beneficent  object.  For 


DELICATE   INQUIRIES.  155 

twice  a  day  lie  stumped  to  fetch  his  beer  from  Widow 
Precious,  and  the  third  time  to  get  his  little  pannikin  of 
grog.  And  now  the  time  was  growing  for  that  last  impor- 
tant duty,  when  a  stranger  stood  before  him  with  a  crown- 
piece  in  his  hand. 

u  Now,  don't  get  up,  captain,  don't  disturb  yourself," 
said  Mr.  Mordacks  graciously  ;  "  your  country  has  claimed 
your  activity,  I  see,  and  I  hope  it  makes  amends  to  you. 
At  the  same  time,  I  know  that  it  very  seldom  does.  Accept 
this  little  tribute  from  the  admiration  of  a  friend." 

Old  Joe  took  the  silver  piece  and  rang  it  on  his  tin  to- 
bacco-box, then  stowed  it  inside,  and  said,  u  Gammon  ! 
What  d'ye  want  of  me  ?" 

"  Your  manners,  my  good  sir,  are  scarcely  on  a  par  with 
your  merits.  I  bribe  no  man  ;  it  is  the  last  thing  I  would 
ever  dream  of  doing.  But  whenever  a  question  of  memory 
arises,  I  have  often  observed  a  great  failure  of  that  power, 
without — without,  if  you  will  excuse  the  expression,  the 
administration  of  a  little  grease." 

"  Smooggling  ?  Aught  about  smooggling  ?"  Old  Joe 
shut  his  mouth  sternly  ;  for  he  hated  and  scorned  the  coast- 
guards, whose  wages  were  shamefully  above  his  own,  and 
who  had  the  impudence  to  order  him  for  signals  ;  while  on 
the  other  hand  he  found  free-trade  a  policy  liberal,  en- 
lightening, and  inspiriting. 

"  No,  captain,  no  ;  not  a  syllable  of  that.  You  have 
been  in  this  place  about  sixteen  years.  If  you  had  only 
been  here  four  years  more,  your  evidence  would  have  set- 
tled all  I  want  to  know.  No  wreck  can  take  place  here,  of 
course,  without  your  knowledge  ?" 

"  Dunno  that.  B'lieve  one  have.  There's  a  twist  of 
the  tide  here — but  what  good  to  tell  landlubbers  ?" 

u  You  are  right.  I  should  never  understand  such  things. 
But  I  find  them  wonderfully  interesting.  You  are  not  a  na- 
tive of  this  place,  and  knew  nothing  of  Flamborough  before 
you  came  here  ?" 

Monument  Joe  gave  a  grunt  at  this,  and  a  long  squirt  of 
tobacco- juice.  "  And  don't  want,"  he  said. 

"  Of  course  you  are  superior,  in  every  way  superior.  You 
find  these  people  rough  and  far  inferior  in  manners.  But 


156  MARY   ANERLEY. 

either,  my  good  friend,  you  will  reopen  your  tobacco-box  or 
else  you  will  answer  me  a  few  short  questions,  which  tres- 
pass in  no  way  upon  your  duty  to  the  king,  or  to  his  loyal 
smugglers.  * ' 

Old  Joe  looked  up,  with  weather-beaten  eyes,  and  saw 
that  he  had  no  fool  to  deal  with,  in  spite  of  all  soft  palaver. 
The  intensity  of  Mr.  Mordacks'  eyes  made  him  blink,  and 
mutter  a  bad  word  or  two,  but  remain  pretty  much  at  his 
service.  And  the  last  intention  he  could  entertain  was  that 
of  restoring  this  fine  crown-piece.  "Spake  on,  sir,'*  he 
said  ;  "  and  I  will  spake  accordinV 

"  Very  good.  I  shall  give  you  very  little  trouble.  I 
wish  to  know  whether  there  was  any  wreck  here,  kept  quiet, 
perhaps,  but  still  some  ship  lost,  about  three  or  four  years 
before  you  came  to  this  station.  It  does  not  matter  what 
ship,  any  ship  at  all,  which  may  have  gone  down  without 
any  fuss  at  all.  You  know  of  none  such  ?  Very  well. 
You  were  not  here  ;  and  the  people  of  this  place  are  won- 
derfully close.  But  a  veteran  of  the  Royal  Navy  should 
know  how  to  deal  with  them.  Make  your  inquiries,  with- 
out seeming  to  inquire.  The  question  is  altogether  private, 
and  cannot  in  any  way  bring  you  into  trouble.  Whereas, 
if  you  find  out  anything,  you  will  be  a  made  man,  and  live 
like  a  gentleman.  You  hate  the  lawyers  ?  All  the  honest 
seamen  do.  I  am  not  a  lawyer  ;  and  my  object  is  to  fire  a 
broadside  into  them.  Accept  this  guinea  ;  and  if  it  would 
suit  you  to  have  a  crown  every  week  for  the  rest  of  your 
life,  I  will  pledge  you  my  word  for  it,  paid  in  advance,  if 
you  only  find  out  for  me  one  little  fact,  of  which  I  have  no 
doubt  whatever,  that  a  merchant  ship  was  cast  away  near 
this  Head,  just  about  nineteen  years  agone." 

That  ancient  sailor  was  accustomed  to  surprises  ;  but 
this,  as  he  said,  when  he  came  to  think  of  it,  made  a  clean 
sweep  of  him,  fore  and  aft.  Nevertheless  he  had  the  pres- 
ence of  mind  required  for  pocketing  the  guinea,  which  was 
too  good  for  his  tobacco-box  ;  and  as  one  thing  at  a  time 
was  quite  enough  upon  his  mind,  he  probed  away  slowly, 
to  be  sure  there  was  no  hole.  Then  he  got  up  from  his 
squatting  form,  with  the  usual  activity  of  those  who  are 
supposed  to  have  none  left,  and  touched  his  brown  hat, 


GOYLE   BAY.  157 

standing  cleverly.  "  What  be  I  to  do  for  all  this  ?"  he 
asked. 

"  Nothing  more  than  what  I  have  told  yon.  To  find  out 
slowly,  and  without  saying  why,  in  the  way  you  sailors 
know  how  to  do,  whether  such  a  thing  came  to  pass  as  I 
suppose.  You  must  not  be  stopped  by  the  lies  of  anybody. 
Of  course  they  will  deny  it,  if  they  got  some  of  the  wreck- 
ing ;  or  it  is  just  possible  that  no  one  even  heard  of  it  ;  and 
yet  there  may  be  some  traces.  Put  two  and  two  together, 
my  good  friend,  as  you  have  the  very  best  chance  of  doing  ; 
and  soon  you  may  put  two  to  that  in  your  pocket,  and 
twenty,  and  a  hundred,  and  as  much  as  you  can  hold." 

"  When  shall  I  see  your  good  honor  again,  to  score  log- 
run,  and  come  to  a  reckoning  ?" 

"  Master  Joseph,  work  a  wary  course.  Your  rating  for 
life  will  depend  upon  that.  You  may  come  to  this  ad- 
dress, if  you  have  anything  important.  Otherwise  you 
shall  soon  hear  of  me  again.  Good-by. " 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

GOYLE    BAY. 

WHILE  all  the  world  was  at  cross-purposes  thus — Mr. 
Jellicorse  uneasy  at  some  rumors,  he  had  heard  ;  Captain 
Carroway  splitting  his  poor  heel  with  indignation  at  the 
craftiness  of  free-traders  ;  Farmer  Anerley  vexed  at  being 
put  upon  by  people,  without  any  daughter  to  console  him, 
or  catch  shrimps  ;  Master  Mordacks  pursuing  a  noble 
game,  strictly  above-board,  as  usual  ;  Robin  Lyth,  troubled 
in  his  largest  principles  of  revolt  against  revenue,  by  a  nasty 
little  pain  that  kept  going  to  his  heart,  with  an  emptiness 
there,  as  for  another  heart  ;  and  last,  and  perhaps  of  all 
most  important,  the  rector  perpetually  pining  for  his  game 
of  chess,  and  utterly  discontented  with  the  frigid  embraces 
of  analysis — where  was  the  best,  and  most  simple,  and 
least  selfish  of  the  whole  lot,  Mary  Anerley  ? 

Mary  was  in  as  good  a  place  as  even  she  was  worthy     f? 


158  MARY  ANERLEY. 

A  place  not  by  any  means  so  snug  and  favored  by  nature 
as  Anerley  Farm,  but  pretty  well  sheltered  by  large  trees  of 
a  strong  and  hardy  order.  And  the  comfortable  ways  of 
good  old  folk,  who  needed  no  labor  to  live  by,  spread  a 
happy  leisure,  and  a  gentle  ease,  upon  everything  under 
their  roof -tree.  Here  was  no  necessity  for  getdng  up 
until  the  sun  encouraged  it  ;  and  the  time  for  going  to  bed 
depended  upon  the  time  of  sleepiness.  Old  Johnny  Pop- 
plewell,  as  everybody  called  him,  without  any  protest  on  his 
part,  had  made  a  good  pocket  by  the  tanning  business,  and 
having  no  children  to  bring  up  to  it,  and  only  his  wife  to 
depend  upon  him,  had  sold  the  good-will,  the  yard,  and  the 
stock,  as  soon  as  he  had  turned  his  sixtieth  year.  "  I 
have  worked  hard  all  my  life,"  he  said  ;  "  and  I  mean  to 
rest  for  the  rest  of  it. ' ' 

At  first  he  was  heartily  miserable,  and  wandered  about 
with  a  vacant  look,  having  only  himself  to  look  after.  And 
he  tried  to  find  a  hole  in  his  bargain  with  the  man  who 
enjoyed  all  the  smells  he  was  accustomed  to,  and  might 
even  be  heard  through  a  gap  in  the  fence,  rating  the  men  as 
old  Johnny  used  to  do,  at  the  same  time  of  day,  and  for 
the  same  neglect,  and  almost  in  the  self-same  words  which 
the  old  owner  used,  but  stronger.  Instead  of  being  happy, 
Master  Popplewell  lost  more  flesh  in  a  month  than  he  used 
to  lay  on  in  the  most  prosperous  year  ;  and  he  owed  it  to 
his  wife,  no  doubt,  as  generally  happens,  that  he  was  not 
speedily  gathered  to  the  bosom  of  the  hospitable  Simon  of 
Joppa.  For  Mrs.  Popplewell  said,  "  Go  away  ;  Johnny, 
go  away  from  this  village  ;  smell  new  smells,  and  never  see 
a  hide  without  a  walking  thing  inside  of  it.  Sea- weed 
smells  almost  as  nice  as  tan  ;  though  of  course  it  is  not  so 
wholesome."  The  tanner  obeyed,  and  bought  a  snug  lit- 
tle place  about  ten  miles  from  the  old  premises,  which  he 
called,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  parson,  '•'  Byrsa  Cottage." 

Here  was  Mary,  as  blithe  as  a  lark,  and  as  petted  as  a 
robin-redbreast,  by  no  means  pining,  or  even  hankering, 
for  any  other  robin.  She  was  not  the  girl  to  give  her  heart 
before  it  was  even  asked  for  ;  and  hitherto  she  had  regarded 
the  smuggler  with  pity  more  than  admiration.  For  in 
many  points  she  was  like  her  father,  whom  she  loved  fore- 


GOYLE   BAY.  159 

most  of  the  world  ;  and  Master  Anerley  was  a  law-abiding 
man,  like  every  other  true  Englishman.  Her  uncle  Pop- 
ple well  was  also  such,  but  exerted  his  principles  less 
strictly.  Moreover,  he  was  greatly  under  influence  of  wife, 
which  happens  more  freely  to  a  man  without  children,  the 
which  are  a  source  of  contradiction.  And  Mistress  Popple- 
well  was  a  most  thorough  and  conscientious  free-trader. 

Now  Mary  was  from  childhood  so  accustomed  to  the  sea, 
and  the  relish  of  salt  breezes,  and  the  racy  dance  of  little 
waves  that  crowd  on  one  another,  and  the  tidal  delivery  of 
delightful  rubbish,  that  to  fail  of  seeing  the  many  works 
and  plays,  and  constant  variance  of  her  never-wearying  or 
weary  friend,  was  more  than  she  could  long  put  up  with. 
She  called  upon  "  Lord  Keppel"  almost  every  day,  having 
brought  him  from  home  for  the  good  of 'his  health,  to  gird 
up  his  loins,  or  rather  get  his  belly-girths  on,  and  come 
along  the  sands  with  her,  and  dig  into  new  places.  But 
he,  though  delighted  for  a  while  with  Byrsa  stable,  and  the 
social  charms  of  Master  PopplewelPs  old  cob,  and  a  rick  of 
fine  tan-colored  clover  hay  and  bean-haulm — when  the  nov- 
elty of  these  delights  was  passed  he  pined  for  his  home, 
and  the  split  in  his  crib,  and  the  knot  of  hard  wood  he  had 
polished  with  his  neck,  and  even  the  little  dog  that  snap- 
ped at  him.  He  did  not  care  for  retired  people — as  he 
said  to  the  cob  every  evening — he  liked  to  see  farm/*work 
going  on,  or  at  any  rate  to  hear  all  about  it,  and  to  listen 
to  horses  who  had  worked  hard,  and  could  scarcely  speak 
for  chewing,  about  the  great  quantity  they  had  turned  of 
earth,  and  how  they  had  answered  very  bad  words  with  a 
bow.  In  short,  to  put  it  in  the  mildest  terms,  Lord  Keppel 
was  giving  himself  great  airs,  unworthy  of  his  age,  ungrate- 
ful to  a  degree,  and  ungraceful,  as  the  cob  said  repeatedly  ; 
considering  how  he  was  fed,  and  bedded,  and  not  a  thing 
left  undone  for  him.  But  his  arrogance  soon  had  to  pay 
its  own  costs. 

For,  away  to  the  right  of  Byrsa  Cottage,  as  you  look 
down  the  hollow  of  the  ground  toward  the  sea,  a  ridge  of 
frigh  scrubby  land  runs  up  to  a  fore-front  of  bold  cliff,  in- 
dented with  a  dark  and  narrow  bay.  "  Goyle  Bay,"  as  it  is 
called,  or  sometimes  "  Basin  Bay,"  is  a  lonely  and  rugged 


160  MARY  ANERLEY. 

place,  and  even  dangerous  for  unwary  visitors.  For  at  low 
spring  tides  a  deep  hollow  is  left  dry,  rather  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  across,  strewn  with  kelp  and  oozy  stones, 
among  which  may  often  be  found  pretty  shells,  weeds 
richly  tinted  and  of  subtle  workmanship,  stars,  and  flowers, 
and  love-knots  of  the  sea,  and  sometimes  carnelians  and 
crystals.  But  anybody  making  a  collection  here  should  be 
able  to  keep  one  eye  upward  and  one  down,  or  else  in  his 
pocket  to  have  two  things — a  good  watch  and  a  trusty  tide- 
table. 

John  and  Deborah  Popplewell  were  accustomed  to  water 
in  small  supplies,  such  as  that  of  a  well,  or  a  roadside 
pond,  or  their  own  old  noble  tan-pits  ;  but  to  understand 
the  sea  it  was  too  late  in  life,  though  it  pleased  them  and  gave 
them  fine  appetites  now,  to  go  down  when  it  was  perfectly 
calm,  and  a  sailor  assured  them  that  the  tide  was  mild. 
But  even  at  such  seasons  they  preferred  to  keep  their  dis- 
tance, and  called  out  frequently  to  one  another.  They 
looked  upon  their  niece,  from  all  she  told  them,  as  a  creat- 
ure almost  amphibious  ;  but  still  they  were  often  uneasy 
about  her,  and  would  gladly  have  kept  her  well  inland  ;  she, 
however,  laughed  at  any  such  idea  ;  and  their  discipline 
was  to  let  her  have  her  own  way.  But  now  a  thing  hap- 
pened which  proved  forever  how  much  better  old  heads  are 
than*young  ones. 

For  Mary,  being  tired  of  the  quiet  places,  and  the  strands 
where  she  knew  every  pebble,  resolved  to  explore  Goyle 
Bay  at  last,  and  she  chose  the  worst  possible  time  for  it. 
The  weather  had  been  very  fine  and  gentle,  and  the  sea  de- 
lightfully plausible,  without  a  wave — tide  after  tide — bigger 
than  the  furrow  of  a  two-horse  plough  ;  and  the  maid 
began  to  believe  at  last  that  there  never  were  any  storms 
just  here.  She  had  heard  of  the  pretty  things  in  Goyle 
Bay,  which  was  difficult  of  access  from  the  land,  but  she 
resolved  to  take  opportunity  of  tide,  and  thus  circumvent 
the  position  ;  she  would  rather  have  done  it  afoot,  but  her 
uncle  and  aunt  made  a  point  of  her  riding  to  the  shore,  re- 
garding the  pony  as  a  safe  companion,  and  sure  refuge  from 
the  waves.  And  so,  upon  the  morning  of  St.  Michael,  she 


GOYLE    BAY.  101 

compelled  Lord  Keppel,  with  an  adverse  mind,  to  turn  a 
headland  they  had  never  turned  before. 

The  tide  was  far  out  and  ebbing  still,  but  the  wind  had 
shifted  and  was  blowing  from  the  east  rather  stiffly,  and 
with  increasing  force.  Mary  knew  that  the  strong  equinoc- 
tial tides  were  running  at  their  height  ;  but  she  had  timed 
her  visit  carefully,  as  she  thought,  with  no  less  than  an  hour 
and  a  half  to  spare.  And  even  without  any  thought  of 
tide,  she  was  bound  to  be  back  in  less  time  than  that,  for 
her  uncle  had  been  most  particular  to  warn  her  to  be  home 
without  fail  at  one  o'clock,  when  the  sacred  goose,  to 
which  he  always  paid  his  duties,  would  be  on  the  table. 
And  if  anything  marred  his  serenity  of  mind  it  was  to  have 
dinner  kept  waiting. 

Without  any  misgivings,  she  rode  into  Basin  Bay,  keep-V 
ing  within  the  black  barrier  of  rocks,  outside  of  which  wet 
sands  were  shining.  She  saw  that  these  rocks,  like  the  bar 
of  a  river,  crossed  the  inlet  of  the  cove  ;  but  she  had  not 
been  told  of  their  peculiar  frame  and  upshot,  which  made 
them  so  treacherous  a  rampart.  At  the  mouth  of  the  bay 
they  formed  a  level  crescent,  as  even  as  a  set  of  good  teeth, 
against  the  sea,  with  a  slope  of  'sand  running  up  to  their 
outer  front,  but  a  deep  and  long  pit  inside  of  them.  This 
pit  drained  itself  very  nearly  dry  when  the  sea  went  away 
from  it,  through  some  stony  tubes  which  only  worked  one 
way,  by  the  closure  of  their  mouths  when  the  tide  returned  ; 
so  that  the  volume  of  the  deep  .sometimes,  with  tide  and 
wind  behind  it,  leaped  over  the  brim  into  the  pit,  with  ten- 
fold the  roar,  a  thousandfold  the  power,  and  scarcely  less 
than  the  speed  of  a  lion. 

Mary  Anerley  thought  what  a  lovely  place  it  was,  so  deep 
and  secluded  from  anybody's  sight,  and  full  of  bright  wet 
colors.  Her  pony  refused,  with  his  usual  wisdom,  to  be 
dragged  to  the  bottom  of  the  hole,  but  she  made  him  come 
farther  down  than  he  thought  just,  and  pegged  him  by  the 
bridle  there.  He  looked  at  her  sadly,  and  with  half  a  mind 
to  expostulate  more  forcibly,  but  getting  no  glimpse  of  the 
sea  where  he  stood,  he  thought  it  as  well  to  put  up  with  it ; 
and  presently  he  snorted  out  a  tribe  of  little  creatures, 
which  puzzled  him  and  took  up  his  attention. 
11 


162  MARY    ANERLEY. 

Meanwhile  Mary  was  not  only  puzzled,  hut  delighted 
heyond  deseription.  She  never  yet  had  come  upon  such 
treasures  of  the  sea,  and  she  scarcely  knew  what  to  lay 
hands  upon  first.  She  wanted  the  weeds  of  such  wonderful 
forms,  and  colors  yet  more  exquisite,  and  she  wanted  the 
shells  of  such  delicate  fabric,  that  fairies  must  have  made 
them,  and  a  thousand  other  little  things  that  had  no 
names  ;  and  then  she  seemed  most  of  all  to  want  the  peb- 
bles. For  the  light  came  through  them  in  stripes  and  pat- 
terns, and  many  of  them  looked  like  downright  jewels. 
She  had  brought  a  great  bag  of  strong  canvas  luckily,  and 
with  both  hands  she  set  to,  to  fill  it. 

So  busy  was  the  girl  with  the  vast  delight  of  sanguine 
acquisition — this  for  her  father,  and  that  for  her  mother, 
and  so  much  for  everybody  she  could  think  of — that  time 
had  no  time  to  be  counted  at  all,  but  flew  by  with  feathers 
unheeded.  The  mutter  of  the  sea  became  a  roar,  and  the 
breeze  waxed  into  a  heavy  gale,  and  spray  began  to  sputter 
through  the  air  like  suds  ;  but  Mary  saw  the  rampart  of  the 
rocks  before  her,  and  thought  that  she  could  easily  get 
back  around  the  point.  And  her  taste  began  continually 
to  grow  more  choice,  so  that  she  spent  as  much  time  in  dis- 
carding the  rubbish  which  at  first  she  had  prized  so  highly 
as  she  did  in  collecting  the  real  rarities,  which  she  was 
learning  to  distinguish.  But,  unluckily,  the  sea  made  no 
allowance  for  all  this. 

For  just  as  Mary,  with  her  bag  quite  full,  was  stooping 
with  a  long  stretch  to  get  something  more — a  thing  that 
perhaps  was  the  very  best  of  all,  and  therefore  had  got  into 
a  corner,  there  fell  upon  her  back  quite  a  solid  lump  of  wave, 
as  a  horse  gets  the  bottom  of  the  bucket  cast  at  him.  This 
made  her  look  up,  not  a  minute  too  soon  ;  and  even  then 
she  wras  not  at  all  aware  of  danger,  but  took  it  for  a  notice 
to  be  moving.  And  she  thought  more  of  shaking  that  salt 
water  from  her  dress  than  of  running  away  from  the  rest 
of  it. 

But  as  soon  as  she  began  to  look  about  in  earnest,  sweep- 
ing back  her  salted  hair,  she  sawr  enough  of  peril  to  turn 
pale  the  roses,  and  strike  away  the  smile  upon  her  very  busy 
face.  She  was  standing  several  yards  below  the  level  of  the 


GOYLE   BAY.  1  W 

sea,  and  great  surges  were  Lurrying  to  swallow  her.  The 
hollow  of  the  rocks  received  the  first  billow  with  a  thump 
and  a  slush,  and  a  rush  of  pointed  hillocks  in  a  fury  to  find 
their  way  back  again  ;  which  failing,  they  spread  into  a 
long  white  pool,  taking  Mary  above  her  pretty  ankles. 
"  Don't  you  think  to  frighten  me,"  said  Mary  ;  u  I  know 
all  your  ways,  and  I  mean  to  take  my  time." 

But  even  before  she  had  finished  her  words  a  great  back 
wall  (doubled  over  at  the  top  with  whiteness,  that  seemed 
to  race  along  it  like  a  fringe)  hung  above  the  rampart,  and 
leaped  over,  casting  at  Mary  such  a  volley  that  she  fell. 
This  quenched  her  last  audacity,  although  she  was  not 
hurt  ;  and  jumping  up  nimbly  she  made  all  haste  through 
the  rising  water  toward  her  pony.  But  as  she  would  not 
forsake  her  bag,  and  the  rocks  became  more  and  more  slip- 
pery, towering  higher  and  higher  surges  crashed  in  over  the 
barrier,  and  swelled  the  yeasty  turmoil  which  began  to  fill 
the  basin  ;  while  a  scurry  of  foam  flew,  like  pellets  from 
the  rampart,  blinding  even  the  very  best  young  eyes. 

Mary  began  to  lose  some  of  her  presence  of  mind,  and 
familiar  approval  of  the  sea.  She  could  swim  pretty  well, 
from  her  frequent  bathing  ;  but  swimming  would  be  of  lit- 
tle service  here,  if  once  the  great  rollers  came  over  the  bar, 
which  they  threatened  to  do  every  moment.  And  when  at 
length  she  fought  her  way  to  the  poor  old  pony,  her  danger 
and  distress  were  multiplied.  Lord  Keppel  was  in  a  state 
of  abject  fear  ;  despair  was  knocking  at  his  fine  old  heart  ; 
he  was  up  to  his  knees  in  the  loathsome  brine  already,  and 
being  so  twisted  up  by  his  own  exertions,  that  to  budge  an- 
other inch  was  beyond  him,  he  did  what  a  horse  is  apt  to 
do  in  such  condition,  he  consoled  himself  with  fatalism. 
He  meant  to  expire  ;  but  before  he  did  so  he  determined 
to  make  his  mistress  feel  what  she  had  done.  Therefore, 
with  a  sad  nudge  of  white  old  nose,  he  drew  her  attention 
to  his  last  expression,  sighed  as  plainly  as  a  man  could 
sigh,  and  fixed  upon  her  meek  eyes,  telling  volumes. 

"  I  know,  I  know  that  it  is  all  my  fault,"  cried  Mary, 
witli  the  brine  almost  smothering  her  tears,  as  she  flung  her 
arms  around  his  neck  ;  '*  but  I  never  will  do  it  again,  my 
darling.  And  I  never  will  run  away  and  let  you  drown. 


164  MARY    AIsTERLEY. 

Oh,  if  I  only  had  a  knife  !  I  cannot  even  cast  your  bridle 
off  ;  the  tongue  has  stuck  fast,  and  my  hands  are  cramped. 
But,  Keppel,  I  will  stay  and  be  drowned  with  you." 

This  resolve  was  quite  unworthy  of  Mary's  common- 
sense  ;  for  how  could  her  being  drowned  with  Keppel  help 
him  ?  However,  the  mere  conception  showed  a  spirit  of 
lofty  order  ;  though  the  body  might  object  to  be  ordered 
under.  Without  any  thought  of  all  that,  she  stood,  reso- 
lute, tearful,  and  thoroughly  wet  through,  while  she  hunted 
in  her  pocket  for  a  penknife. 

The  nature  of  all  knives  is  not  to  be  found,  and  Mary's 
knife  was  loyal  to  its  kind.  Then  she  tugged  at  her  pony, 
and  pulled  out  his  bit,  and  labored  again  at  the  obstinate 
strap  ;  but  nothing  could  be  done  with  it.  Keppel  must  be 
drowned,  and  he  did  not  seem  to  care,  but  to  think  that  the 
object  of  his  birth  was  that.  If  the  stupid  little  fellow 
would  have  only  stepped  forward,  the  hands  of  his  mistress, 
though  cramped  and  benumbed,  might  perhaps  have  un- 
buckled his  stiff  and  sodden  reins,  or  even  undone  their 
tangle  ;  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  would  have  jerked  with  all 
his  might,  something  or  other  must  have  given  way  ;  but 
stir  he  would  not  from  one  fatuous  position,  which  kept  all 
his  head-gear  on  the  strain,  but  could  not  snap  it.  Mary 
even  struck  him  with  her  heavy  bag  of  stones,  to  make  him 
do  something  ;  but  he  only  looked  reproachful. 

"  Was  there  ever  such  a  stupid  ?"  the  poor  girl  cried, 
with  the  water  rising  almost  to  her  waist,  and  the  inner 
waves  beginning  to  dash  over  her,  while  the  outer  billows 
threatened  to  rush  in  and  crush  them  both.  "  But  I  will 
not  abuse  you  any  more,  poor  Keppel.  What  will  dear 
father  say  ?  Oh,  what  will  he  think  of  it  ?" 

Then  she  burst  into  a  fit  of  sobs,  and  leaned  against  the 
pony,  to  support  her  from  a  rushing  wave  which  took  her 
breath  away,  and  she  thought  that  she  would  never  try  to 
look  up  any  more,  but  shut  her  eyes  to  all  the  rest  of  it. 
But  suddenly  she  heard  a  loud  shout  and  a  splash,  and 
found  herself  caught  up  and  carried  like  an  infant. 

*'  Lie  still.  Never  mind  the  pony  ;  what  is  he  ?  I  will 
go  for  him  afterward.  You  first,  you  first  of  all  the  world, 
my  Mary." 


GOYLE   BAY.  1G5 

She  tried  to  speak,  but  not  a  word  would  come  ;  and 
that  was  all  the  better.  She  was  carried  quick  as  might  be 
through  a  whirl  of  tossing  waters,  and  gently  laid  upon  a 
pile  of  kelp  ;  and  then  Robin  Lyth  said,  "  You  are  quite 
safe  here,  for  at  least  another  hour.  I  will  go  and  get  your 
pony." 

"  No,  no  ;  you  will  be  knocked  to  pieces,"  she  cried  ; 
for  the  pony,  in  the  drift  and  scud,  could  scarcely  be  seen 
but  for  his  helpless  struggles.  But  the  young  man  was  half 
way  toward  him  while  she  spoke,  and  she  knelt  upon  the 
kelp,  and  clasped  her  hands. 

Now  Robin  was  at  home  in  a  matter  such  as  this.  He 
had  landed  many  kegs  in  a  sea  as  strong  or  stronger,  and 
he  knew  how  to  deal  with  the  horses  in  a  surf.  There  still 
was  a  break  of  almost  a  fathom  in  the  level  of  the  inner  and 
the  outer  waves,  for  the  basin  was  so  large  that  it  could  not 
fill  at  once  ;  and  so  long  as  this  lasted,  every  roller  must 
comb  over  at  the  entrance,  and  mainly  spend  itself.  "  At 
least  five  minutes  to  spare,"  he  shouted  back,  "  and  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  any  danger."  But  the  girl  did  not  be- 
lieve him. 

Rapidly  and  skilfully  he  made  his  way,  meeting  the 
larger  wave  sideways  and  rising  at  their  onset  ;  until  he  was 
obliged  to  swim  at  last  where  the  little  horse  was  swimming 
desperately.  The  leather,  still  jammed  in  some  crevice  at 
the  bottom,  was  jerking  his  poor  chin  downward  ;  his  eyes 
were  screwed  up  like  a  new-born  kitten's  and  his  dainty 
nose  looked  like  a  jelly-fish,  lie  thought  how  sad  it  was 
that  he  should  ever  die  like  this,  after  all  the  good  works  of 
his  life — the  people  he  had  carried,  and  the  chaise  that  he 
had  drawn,  and  all  his  kindness  to  mankind.  Then  he 
turned  his  head  away,  to  receive  the  stroke  of  grace,  which 
the  next  wave  would  administer. 

No  !  He  was  free.  He  could  turn  his  honest  tail  on  the 
sea,  which  he  always  had  detested  so  ;  he  could  toss  up  his 
nose  and  blow  the  filthy  salt  out,  and  sputter  back  his  scorn, 
while  he  made  off  for  his  life.  So  intent  was  he  on  this, 
that  he  never  looked  twice,  to  make  out  who  his  benefactor 
was,  but  gave  him  just  a  taste  of  his  hind-foot  on  the  elbow, 
in  the  scuffle  of  his  hurry  to  be  round  about  and  off. 


1G6  MARY    AKEKLEY. 

"  Such  is  gratitude  I"  the  smuggler  cried,  but  a  clot  of 
salt  water  flipped  into  his  mouth,  and  closed  all  cynical  out- 
let. Bearing  up  against  the  waves  he  stowed  his  long  knife 
away,  and  then  struck  off  for  the  shore  with  might  and 
main. 

Here  Mary  ran  into  the  water  to  meet  him,  shivering  as 
she  was  with  fright  and  cold,  and  stretched  out  both  hands 
to  him,  as  he  waded  forth  ;  and  he  took  them  and  clasped 
them  quite  as  if  he  needed  help.  Lord  Keppel  stood  afar 
off,  recovering  his  breath,  and  scarcely  dared  to  look 
askance  at  the  execrable  sea. 

"  How  cold  you  are  !"  Robin  Lyth  exclaimed.  "  You 
must  not  stay  a  moment.  No  talking  if  you  please — though 

I  love  your  voice  so.     You  are  not  safe  yet.     You  cannot 
get  back    round    the    point.     See  the    waves   dashing   up 
against  it  !     You  must  climb  the  cliff,  and  that  is  no  easy 
job  for  a  lady,  in  the   best  of  weather.     In  a  couple  of 
hours,  the  tide  will  be  over  the  whole  of  this  beach  a  fathom 
deep.     There  is  no  boat  nearer  than  Filey  ;    and  a  boat 
could  scarcely  live  over  that  bar.     You  must  climb  the  cliff, 
and  begin  at  once,  before  you  get  any  colder." 

"  Then  is  my  poor  pony  to  be  drowned  after  all  ?  If  he 
is,  he  had  better  have  been  drowned  at  once. " 

The  smuggler  looked  at  her  with  a  smile,  which  meant, 

II  Your   gratitude    is    about   the    same    as   his  ;"  but   he 
answered,  to  assure  her,  though  by  no  means  sure  himself, 

44  There  is  time  enough  for  him  ;  he  shall  not  be 
drowned.  But  you  must  be  got  out  of  danger  first.  When 
you  are  off  my  mind,  I  will  fetch  up  pony.  Now  you  must 
follow  me  step  by  step,  carefully  and  steadily.  I  would 
carry  you  up,  if  I  could  ;  but  even  a  giant  could  scarcely 
do  that,  in  a  stiff  gale  of  wind,  and  with  the  crag  so  wet.'* 

Mary  looked  up  with  a  shiver  of  dismay,  She  was  brave 
and  nimble,  generally,  but  now  so  wet  and  cold,  and  the 
steep  cliff  looked  so  slippery,  that  she  said,  4t  It  is  useless  ; 
I  can  never  get  up  there.  Captain  Lyth,  save  yourself,  and 
leave  me." 

*  That  would  be  a  pretty  thing  to  do,"  he  replied  ; 
*'  and  where  should  I  be  afterward  ?  I  am  not  at  the  end 
of  my  devices  yet.  I  have  got  a  very  snug  little  crane  up 


GOYLE   BAY.  167 

tlierc.  It  was  licre  we  ran  our  last  lot,  and  beat  the  brave 
lieutenant  so.  But  unluckily  I  have  no  cave  just  here. 
None  of  rny  lads  are  about  here  now,  or  we  would  make 
short  work  of  it.  But  I  could  hoist  you  very  well,  if  you 
would  let  me." 

"  I  would  never  think  of  such  a  thing.  To  corne  up  like 
a  keg  1  Captain  Lyth,  you  must  know  that  I  never  would 
be  so  disgraced." 

4 '  Well,  I  was  afraid  that  you  might  take  it  so  ;  though  I 
cannot  see  why  it  should  be  any  harm.  We  often  hoist  the 
last  man  so. " 

"It  is  different  with  me,"  said  Mary  ;  "  it  may  be  no 
harm  ;  but  I  could  not  have  it." 

The  free-trader  looked  at  her  bright  eyes  and  color,  and 
admired  her  spirit  which  his  words  had  roused. 

u  I  pray  your  forgiveness,  Miss  Anerley,"  he  said,  u  I 
meant  no  harm.  I  was  thinking  of  your  life.  But  you 
look  now  as  if  you  could  do  anything  almost." 

44  Yes,  I  am  warm  again.  I  have  no  fear.  I  will  not 
go  up  like  a  keg,  but  like  myself.  I  can  do  it  without  help 
from  anybody." 

44  Only  please  to  take  care  not  to  cut  your  little  hands," 
said  Robin  as  he  began  the  climb  ;  for  he  saw  that  her 
spirit  was  up  to  do  it. 

44  My  hands  are  not  little  ;  and  I  will  cut  them  if  I 
choose.  Please  not  even  to  look  back  at  nie.  I  am  not  iu 
the  least  afraid  of  anything." 

The  cliff  was  not  of  the  soft  and  friable  stuff  to  be  found 
at  Bridlington,  but  of  hard  and  slippery  sandstone,  with 
bulky  ribs  oversaling  here  and  there,  and  threatening  to 
cast  the  climber  back.  At  such  spots,  nicks  for  the  feet 
had  been  cut  or  broken  with  a  hammer,  but  scarcely  wider 
than  a  stirrup-iron,  and  far  less  inviting.  To  surmount 
these  was  quite  impossible,  except  by  a  process  of  crawl- 
ing ;  and  Mary,  with  her  heart  in  her  mouth,  repented  of 
her  rash  contempt  for  the  crane-sling.  Luckily  the  height 
was  not  very  great,  or,  tired  as  she  was,  she  must  have 
given  way  ;  for  her  bodily  warmth  had  waned  again  in  the 
strong  wind  buffeting  the  cliff.  Otherwise  the  wind  had 
helped  her  greatly  by  keeping  her  from  swaying  outward  ; 


168  MARY   AJSTERLEY. 

but  her  courage  began  to  fail  at  last,  and  very  near  the  top 
she  called  for  help.  A  short  piece  of  lanyard  was  thrown  to 
her  at  once,  and  Robin  Lyth  landed  her  on  the  bluff,  pant- 
ing, breathless,  and  blushing  again. 

u  Well  done  !"  he  cried,  gazing  as  she  turned  her  face 
away  ;  "  young  ladies  may  teach  even  sailors  to  climb. 
Not  every  sailor  could  get  up  this  cliff.  Now,  back  to  Mas- 
ter PopplewelPs  as  fast  as  you  can  run,  and  your  aunt  will 
know  what  to  do  with  you. ' ' 

"  You  seem  well  acquainted  with  my  family  affairs," 
said  Mary,  who  could  not  help  smiling.  "  Pray  how  did 
you  even  know  where  I  am  staying  ?" 

"  Little  birds  tell  me  everything  ;  especially  about  the 
best,  and  most  gentle,  and  beautiful  of  all  birds." 

The  maiden  was  inclined  to  be  vexed  again  ;  but  remem- 
bering how  much  he  had  done,  and  how  little  gratitude  she 
had  shown,  she  forgave  him,  and  asked  him  to  come  to  the 
cottage. 

44  I  will  bring  up  the  little  horse.  Have  no  fear,"  he 
replied  ;  "  I  will  not  come  up  at  all  unless  I  bring  him. 
But  it  may  take  two  or  three  hours. ' ' 

With  no  more  than  a  wave  of  his  hat,  he  set  off,  as  if 
the  Coast-riders  were  after  him,  by  the  path  along  the  cliffs 
toward  Filey,  for  he  knew  that  Lord  Keppel  must  be 
hoisted  by  the  crane,  and  he  could  not  manage  it  without 
another  man  ;  and  the  tide  would  wait  for  none  of  them. 
Upon  the  next  headland  he  found  one  of  his  men,  for  the 
smugglers  maintained  a  much  sharper  lookout  than  did  the 
forces  of  his  majesty,  because  they  were  paid  much  better  ; 
and  returning  they  managed  to  strap  Lord  Keppel,  and 
hoist  him  like  a  big  bale  of  contraband  goods.  For  their 
crane  had  been  left  in  a  brambled  hole  ;  and  they  very  soon 
rigged  it  out  again.  The  little  horse  kicked  pretty  freely 
in  the  air,  not  perceiving  his  own  welfare  ;  but  a  cross- 
beam and  pulley  kept  him  well  out  from  the  cliff,  and  they 
swung  him  in  over  handsomely,  and  landed  him  well  upon 
the  sward  within  the  brink.  Then  they  gave  him  three 
cheers  for  his  great  adventure,  which  he  scarcely  seemed  to 
appreciate. 


A    FAltM  TO   LET.  169 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

A    FARM    TO    LET. 

THAT  storm  on  the  festival  of  St.  Michael  broke  up  the 
short  summer  weather  of  the  north.  A  wet  and  tempestu- 
ous month  set  in  ;  and  the  .harvest,  in  all  but  the  very  best 
places,  lay  flat  on  the  ground,  without  scythe  or  sickle.  The 
men  of  the  riding  were  not  disturbed  by  this,  as  fanners 
would  have  been  in  Suffolk  ;  for  these  were  quite  used  to 
walk  over  their  crops,  without  much  occasion  to  lift  their 
feet.  They  always  expected  their  corn  to  be  laid,  and 
would  have  been  afraid  of  it,  if  it  stood  upright.  Even  at 
Anerley  Farm,  this  salaam  of  the  wheat  was  expected  in  bad 
seasons  ;  and  it  suited  the  reapers  of  the  neighborhood,  who 
scarcely  knew  what  to  make  of  knees  unbent,  and  upright 
discipline  of  stiff-cravated  ranks. 

In  the  north-west  corner  of  the  county,  where  the  rocky 
land  was  mantled  so  frequently  with  cloud,  and  the  prev- 
alence of  western  winds  bore  sway,  an  upright  harvest  was 
a  thing  to  talk  of,  as  the  legend  of  a  century,  credible  be- 
cause it  scarcely  could  have  been  imagined.  And  this  year 
it  would  have  been  hard  to  imagine  any  more  prostrate  and 
lowly  position  than  that  of  every  kind  of  crop.  The  bright 
weather  of  August  and  attentions  of  the  sun,  and  gentle 
surprise  of  rich  dews  in  the  morning,  together  with  abun- 
dance of  moisture  underneath,  had  made  things  look  as  they 
scarcely  ever  looked — clean,  and  straight,  and  elegant. 
But  none  of  them  had  found  time  to  form  the  dry  and  solid 
substance,  without  which  neither  man  nor  his  staff  of  life 
can  stand  against  adversity. 

"  My  Lady  Philippa,"  as  the  tenants  called  her,  came 
out  one  day  to  see  how  things  looked,  and  whether  the  ten- 
ants were  likely  to  pay  their  Michaelmas  rents  at  Christmas. 
Her  sister,  Mrs.  Carnaby,  felt  like  interest  in  the  question, 
but  hated  long  walks,  being  weaker  and  less  active,  and 
therefore  rode  a  quiet  pony.  Very  little  wheat  was  grown 
on  their  estates,  both  soil  and  climate  declining  it  ;  but  the 
barley  crop  was  of  more  importance,  and  flourished  pretty 


170  MAKY   AKERLEY. 

well  upon  the  southern  slopes.  The  land,  as  a  rule,  was 
poor  and  shallow,  and  nourished  more  grouse  than  par- 
tridges ;  but  here  and  there  valleys  of  soft  shelter  and  fail- 
soil  relieved  the  eye  and  comforted  the  pocket  of  the 
owner.  These  little  bits  of  Goshen  formed  the  heart  of  every 
farm  ;  though  oftentimes  the  homestead  was,  as  if  by  some 
perversity,  set  up  in  bleak  and  barren  spots,  outside  of 
comfort's  elbow. 

The  ladies  marched  on,  without  much  heed  of  any  other 
point  than  one — would  the  barley  crop  do  well  ?  They 
had  many  tenants  who  trusted  chiefly  to  that,  and  to  the 
rough  hill-oats  and  wool  to  make  up  in  coin  what  part  of 
their  rent  they  were  not  allowed  to  pay  in  kind.  For  as 
yet  machinery  and  reeking  factories  had  not  besmirched  the 
country-side. 

44  How  much  farther  do  you  mean  to  go,  Philippa  ?" 
asked  Mrs.  Carnaby,  although  she  was  not  travelling  by 
virtue  of  her  own  legs.  44  For  my  part,  I  think  we  have 
gone  too  far  already. " 

44  Your  ambition  is  always  to  turn  back.  You  may  turn 
back  now,  if  you  like.  I  shall  go  on. "  Miss  Yordas  knew 
that  her  sister  would  fail  of  the  courage  to  ride  home  all 
alone. 

Mrs.  Carnaby  never  would  ride  without  Jordas,  or  some 
other  serving-man  behind  her,  as  was  right  and  usual  for  a 
lady  of  her  position  ;  but  4 '  Lady  Philippa' '  was  of  bolder 
strain,  and  cared  for  nobody's  thoughts,  words,  or  deeds. 
And  she  had  ordered  her  sister's  servant  back,  for  certain 
reasons  of  her  own. 

44  Very  well,  very  well.  You  always  will  go  on  ;  and 
always  on  the  road  you  choose  yourself.  Although  it  re- 
quires a  vast  deal  of  knowledge  to  know  that  there  is  any 
road  here  at  all." 

The  widow,  who  looked  very  comely  for  her  age,  and  sat 
her  pony  prettily,  gave  way  (as  usual)  to  the  stronger  will  ; 
though  she  always  liked  to  enter  protest,  which  the  elder 
scarcely  ever  deigned  to  notice.  But  hearing  that  Eliza 
had  a  little  cough  at  night,  and  knowing  that  her  appetite 
had  not  been  as  it  ought  to  be,  Philippa  (who  really  was 


A   FARM   TO   LET.  .      171 

wrapped  up  in  her  sister,  but  never  or  seldom  let  her  dream 
of  such  a  fact)  turned  round  graciously  and  said  : 

"  I  have  ordered  the  carriage  here  for  half -past  three 
o'clock.  We  will  go  back  by  the  Scarbend  road,  and 
Heartsease  can  trot  behind  us. ' ' 

44  Heartsease,  imeasy  you  have  kept  my  heart  by  your 
shufflings  and  trippings  perpetual.  Philippa,  I  want  a  bet- 
ter stepping  pony.  Pet  has  ruined  Heartsease. ' ' 

44  Pet  ruins  everything  and  everybody  ;  and  you  are  ruin- 
ing him,  Eliza.  I  am  the  only  one  who  has  the  smallest 
power  over  him.  And  he  is  beginning  to  cast  off  that.  If 
it  comes  to  open  war  between  us,  I  shall  be  sorry  for  Lance- 
lot.'1 

44  And  I  shall  be  sorry  for  you,  Philippa.  In  a  few 
years,  Pet  will  be  a  man.  And  a  man  is  always  stronger 
than  a  woman  ;  at  any  rate  in  our  family." 

44  Stronger  than  such  as  you,  Eliza.  But  let  him  only 
rebel  against  me,  and  he  will  find  himself  an  outcast.  And 
to  prove  that,  I  have  brought  you  here." 

Mistress  Yordas  turned  round,  and  looked  in  a  well- 
known  manner  at  her  sister,  whose  beautiful  eyes  filled 
with  tears,  and  fell. 

44  Philippa,"  she  said,  with  a  breath  like  a  sob  ;  u  some- 
times you  look  harder  than  poor  dear  papa,  in  his  very 
worst  moments,  used  to  look.  I  am  sure  that  I  do  not  at 
all  deserve  it.  All  that  I  pray  for  is  peace  and  comfort  ; 
and  little  do  I  get  of  either." 

44  And  you  will  get  less,  as  long  as  you  pray  for  them, 
instead  of  doing  something  better.  The  only  way  to  get 
such  things  is  to  make  them." 

44  Then  I  think  that  you  might  make  enough  for  us  both  ; 
if  you  have  any  regard  for  them,  or  for  me,  Philippa." 

Mistress  Yordas  smiled,  as  she  often  did,  at  her  sister's 
style  of  reasoning.  And  she  cared  not  a  jot  for  the  last 
word,  so  long  as  the  will  and  the  way  were  left  to  her. 
And  in  this  frame  of  mind  she  turned  a  corner  from  the 
open  moor-track  into  a  little  lane,  or  rather  the  expiring 
delivery  of  a  lane,  which  was  leading  a  better  existence  far- 
ther on. 

Mrs.  Carnaby  followed  dutifully,  and    Heartsease  began 


172       .  MARY   A1STERLEY. 

to  pick  up  his  feet,  which  he  scorned  to  do  upon  the 
negligence  of  sward.  And  following  this  good  lane,  they 
came  to  a  gate,  corded  to  an  ancient  tree,  and  showing  up 
its  foot,  as  a  dog  does  when  he  has  a  thorn  in  it.  This 
gate  seemed  to  stand  for  an  ornament,  or  perhaps  a  land- 
mark ;  for  the  lane,  instead  of  submitting  to  it,  passed  by 
upon  either  side,  and  plunged  into  a  dingle,  where  a  gray 
old  house  was  sheltering.  The  lonely  moorside  farm — if 
such  a  wild  and  desolate  spot  could  be  a  farm — was  known 
as  * 4  Wallhead, ' '  from  the  relics  of  some  ancient  wall  ;  and 
the  folk  who  lived  there,  or  tried  to  live,  although  they 
possessed  a  surname — which  is  not  a  necessary  consequence 
of  life — very  seldom  used  it,  and  more  rarely  still  had  it 
used  for  them.  For  the  ancient  fashion  still  held  ground 
of  attaching  the  idea  of  a  man  to  that  of  things  more  exten- 
sive and  substantial.  So  the  head  of  the  house  was  "  Will 
o'  the  Wallhead  ;"  his  son  was  "  Tommy  o7  Will  o'  the 
Wallhead,"  and  his  grandson,  "  Willy  o'  Tommy  o'  Will 
o'  the  Wallhead.'1  But  the  one  their  great  lady  desired  to 
see  was  the  unmarried  daughter  of  the  house,  u  Sally  o' 
Willo'  the  Wallhead." 

Mistress  Yordas  knew  that  the  men  of  the  house  would 
be  out  upon  the  land,  at  this  time  of  day,  while  Sally  would 
be  full  of  household  work,  and  preparing  their  homely  sup- 
per. So  she  walked  in  bravely  at  the  open  door,  while  her 
sister  waited  with  the  pony  in  the  yard.  Sally  was  clump- 
ing about  in  clog  shoes,  with  a  child  or  two  sprawling  after 
her  (for  Tommy 's  wife  was  away  with  him  at  work),  and 
if  the  place  was  not  as  clean  as  could  be,  it  seemed  as  clean 
as  need  be. 

The  natives  of  this  part  are  rough  in  manner,  and  apt  to 
regard  civility  as  the  same  thing  with  servility.  Their 
bluntness  does  not  proceed  from  thickness,  as  in  the  South 
of  England  ;  but  from  a  surety  of  their  own  worth,  and 
inferiority  to  no  one.  And  to  deal  with  them  rightly,  this 
must  be  entered  into. 

Sally  o'  Will  o'  the  Wallhead  bobbed  her  solid  and 
black  curly  head,  with  a  clout  like  a  jelly  on  the  poll  of  it, 
to  the  owner  of  their  land,  and  a  lady  of  high  birth  ;  but 
she  vouchsafed  no  courtesy,  neither  did  Mistress  Yordas 


A    FARM   TO   LET.  173 

expect  one.  But  the  active  and  self-contained  woman  set  a 
chair  in  the  low,  dark  room,  which  was  their  best  ;  and 
stood  waiting  to  be  spoken  to. 

44  Sally,"  said  the  lady,  who  also  possessed  the  Yorkshire 
gift  of  going  to  the  point  ;  4*  you  had  a  man  ten  years  ago  ; 
you  behaved  badly  to  him,  and  he  went  into  the  Indian 
Company. ' ' 

44  A'  deed,"  replied  the  maiden,  without  any  blush,  be- 
cause she  had  been  in  the  right  throughout  ;  '4  and  noo  a' 
hath  coom  in  a  better  moind. " 

44  And  you  have  come  to  know  your  own  mind  about 
him.  You  have  been  steadfast  to  him  for  ten  years.  He 
has  saved  up  some  money,  and  is  come  back  to  marry 
you." 

44  I  heed  nane  o'  the  brass.    But  my  Jack  is  back  again. " 

44  His  father  held  under  us  for  many  years.  He  was  a 
thoroughly  honest  man,  and  paid  his  rent  as  often  as  he 
could.  Would  Jack  like  to  have  his  father's  farm  ?  It  has 
been  let  to  his  cousin,  as  you  know  ;  but  they  have  been 
going  from  bad  to  worse  ;  and  everything  must  be  sold  off, 
unless  I  stop  it. ' ' 

Sally  was  of  dark  Lancastrian  race,  with  handsome  feat- 
ures and  fine  brown  eyes.  She  had  been  a  beauty  ten 
years  ago,  and  could  still  look  comely  when  her  heart  was 
up. 

44  My  lady,"  she  said,  with  her  heart  up  now,  at  the  hope 
of  soon  having  a  home  of  her  own,  and  something  to  work 
for  that  she  might  keep  ;  44  such  words  should  not  pass  the 
mouth  wi'out  bin  meant." 

What  she  said  was  very  different  in  sound,  and  not  to  be 
rendered  in  echo,  by  any  one  born  far  away  from  that 
country,  where  three  dialects  meet  and  find  it  hard  to  guess 
what  each  of  the  others  is  up  to.  Enough  that  this  is  what 
Sally  meant  to  say,  and  that  Mistress  Yordas  understood  it. 

44  It  is  not  my  custom  to  say  a  thing  without  meaning 
it, ' '  she  answered  ;  i  4  but  unless  it  is  taken  up  at  once,  it  is 
likely  to  come  to  nothing.  Where  is  your  man  Jack  ?" 

44  Jack  is  awaa  to  the  minister  to  tell  of  us  cooming 
tegither."  Sally  made  no  blush  over  this,  as  she  might 
have  done  ten  years  ago. 


174:  MARY    AKERLEY. 

"  He  must  be  an  excellent  and  faithful  man.  He  shall 
have  the  farm  if  he  wishes  it,  and  can  give  some  security 
at  going  in.  Let  him  come  and  see  Jordas  to-morrow." 

After  a  few  more  words  the  lady  left  Sally  full  of  grati- 
tude, very  little  of  which  was  expressed  aloud,  and  there- 
fore the  whole  was  more  likely  to  work,  as  Mistress  Yordas 
knew  right  well. 

The  farm  was  a  better  one  than  Wallhead,  having  some 
good  barley-land  upon  it  ;  and  Jack  did  not  fail  to  present 
himself  at  Scargate  upon  the  following  morning.  But  the 
lady  of  the  house  did  not  think  fit  herself  to  hold  discourse 
with  him.  Jordas  was  bidden  to  entertain  him,  and  find 
out  how  he  stood  in  cash,  and  whether  his  character  was 
solid  ;  and  then  to  leave  him  with  a  jug  of  ale  ;  and  come 
and  report  proceedings.  The  dogman  discharged  this  duty 
well,  being  as  faithful  as  the  dogs  he  kept,  and  as  keen  a 
judge  of  human  nature. 

"  The  man  hath  no  harm  in  him,"  he  said,  touching  his 
hair  to  the  ladies,  as  he  entered  the  audit-room.  44  A' 
hath  been  knocked  aboot  a  bit  in  them  wars  i'  Injury,  and 
hath  only  one  hand  left  ;  but  a'  can  lay  it  upon  fifty  poon, 
and  get  surety  for  anither  fifty. ' ' 

"  Then  tell  him,  Jordas,  that  he  may  go  to  Mr.  Jellicorse 
to-morrow,  to  see  about  the  writings,  which  he  must  pay 
for.  I  will  write  full  instructions  for  Mr.  Jellicorse,  and 
you  go  and  get  your  dinner  ;  and  then  take  my  letter,  that 
he  may  have  time  to  consider  it.  Wait  a  moment.  There 
are  other  things  to  be  done  in  Middleton,  and  it  would  be 
late  for  you  to  come  back  to-night,  the  days  are  drawing  in 
so.  Sleep  at  our  tea-grocer's  ;  he  will  put  you  up.  Give 
your  letter  at  once  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Jellicorse,  and  he 
will  get  forward  with  the  writings.  Tell  this  man  Jack  that 
he  must  be  there  before  twelve  o'clock  to-morrow,  and  then 
you  can  call  about  two  o'clock,  and  bring  back  what  there 
may  be  for  signature  ;  and  be  careful  of  it.  Eliza,  I  think 
I  have  set  forth  your  wishes." 

"  But,  my  lady,  lawyers  do  take  such  a  time  ;  and  who 
will  look  after  Master  Lancelot  ?  I  fear  to  have  my  feet 
two  moiles  off  here — " 

"  Obey  your  orders,  without  reasoning  ;  that  is  for  those 


A   FARM   TO   LET.  175 

who  give  them.  Eliza,  I  am  sure  that  you  agree  with  me. 
Jordas,  make  this  man  clearly  understand,  as  you  can  do 
when  you  take  the  trouble.  But  you  first  must  clearly 
understand  the  whole  yourself.  I  will  repeat  it  for  you. ' ' 

Philippa  Yordas  went  through  the  whole  of  her  orders 
again  most  clearly,  and  at  every  one  of  them  the  dogman 
nodded  his  large  head  distinctly,  and  counted  the  nods  on 
his  fingers  to  make  sure  ;  for  this  part  is  gifted  with  high 
mathematics.  And  the  numbers  stick  fast  like  pegs  driven 
into  clay. 

"  Poor  Jordas  !  Philippa,  you  are  working  him  too 
hard.  You  have  made  great  wrinkles  in  his  forehead. 
Jordas,  you  must  have  no  wrinkles,  until  you  are  married. " 

While  Mrs.  Carnaby  spoke  so  kindly  the  dogman  took 
his  fingers  off  their  numeral  scale,  and  looked  at  her.  By 
nature  the  two  were  first  cousins,  of  half-blood  ;  by  law, 
and  custom,  and  education,  and  vital  institution,  they  were 
sundered  more  widely  than  black  and  white.  But  for  all 
that,  the  dogman  loved  the  lady,  at  a  faithful  distance. 

44  You  seem  to  me  now  to  have  it  clearly,  Jordas/'  said 
the  elder  sister,  looking  at  him  sternly,  because  Eliza  was 
so  soft  ;  4 4  you  will  see  that  no  mischief  can  be  done  with 
the  dogs  or  horses  while  you  are  away  ;  and  Mr.  Jellicorse 
will  give  you  a  letter  for  me,  to  say  that  everything  is  right. 
My  desire  is  to  have  things  settled  promptly,  because  your 
friend  Jack  has  been  to  set  the  banns  up  ;  and  the  Church 
is  more  speedy  in  such  matters ,  than  the  law.  Now  the 
sooner  you  are  off  the  better. ' J 

Jordas,  in  his  steady  but  by  no  means  stupid  way,  con- 
sidered at  his  leisure  what  such  things  could  mean.  He 
knew  all  the  property,  and  the  many  little  holdings,  as  well 
as,  and  perhaps  a  great  deal  better  than  if  they  had  hap- 
pened to  be  his  own.  But  he  never  had  known  such  a 
hurry  made  before,  or  such  a  special  interest  shown  about 
the  letting  of  any  tenement,  of  perhaps  tenfold  the  value. 
However,  he  said,  like  a  sensible  man  (and  therefore  to 
himself  only),  that  the  ways  of  women  are  beyond  compute, 
and  must  be  suitably  carried  out,  without  any  contradic- 
tion. 


176  MAKY   ANERLEY. 

CHAPTER    XX. 

AN     OLD     SOLDIER. 

Now,  Mr.  Jellicorse  had  been  taking  a  careful  view  of 
everything.  He  wished  to  be  certain  of  placing  himself 
both  on  the  righteous  side  and  the  right  one  ;  and  in  such 
a  case  this  was  not  to  be  done  without  much  circumspec- 
tion. He  felt  himself  bound  to  his  present  clients,  and 
could  not  even  dream  of  deserting  them  ;  but  still  there  are 
many  things  that  may  be  done  to  conciliate  the  adversary 
of  one's  friend,  without  being  false  to  the  friend  himself. 
And  some  of  these  already  were  occurring  to  the  lawyer. 

It  was  true  that  no  adversary  had  as  yet  appeared,  nor 
even  shown  token  of  existence  ;  but  some  little  sign  of 
complication  had  arisen,  and  one  serious  fact  was  come  to 
light.  The  solicitors  of  Sir  Ulphus  de  Roos  (the  grandson 
of  Sir  Fursan,  whose  daughter  had  married  Richard  Yordas) 
had  pretty  strong  evidence  in  some  old  letters  that  a  deed 
of  appointment  had  been  made  by  the  said  Richard,  and 
Eleanor  his  wife,  under  the  powers  of  their  settlement. 
Luckily  they  had  not  been  employed  in  the  matter,  and 
possessed  not  so  much  as  a  draft,  or  a  letter  of  instructions  ; 
and  now  it  was  no  concern  of  theirs  to  make,  or  meddle,  or 
even  move.  Neither  did  they  know  that  any  question  could 
arise  about  it  ;  for  they  were  a  highly  antiquated  firm,  of 
most  rigid  respectability,  being  legal  advisers  to  the  Chap- 
ter of  York,  and  clerks  of  the  Prerogative  Court,  and  able 
to  charge  twice  as  much  as  almost  any  other  firm,  and 
nearly  three  times  as  much  as  poor  Jellicorse. 

Mr.  Jellicorse  had  been  most  skilful  and  wary  in  sounding 
these  deep  and  silent  people  ;  for  he  wanted  to  find  out 
how  much  they  knew,  without  letting  them  suspect  that 
there  was  anything  to  know.  And  he  proved  an  old 
woman's  will  gratis,  or  at  least  put  it  down  to  those  who 
could  afford  it — because  nobody  meant  to  have  it  proved — 
simply  for  the  sake  of  getting  golden  contact  with  Messrs. 
Akeborum,  Micklegate,  and  Brigant.  Right  craftily  then 
did  he  fetch  a  young  member  of  the  firm,  who  delighted  in 


i;  UN1V1    tSI     • 

OLD   SOLDIER.  177 


angling,  to  take  his  holiday  at  Middlctorf,  'and  fisTi  the 
goodly  Tees  ;  and  by  gentle  and  casual  discourse  of  gossip, 
in  hours  of  hospitality,  out  of  him  he  hooked  and  landed 
all  that  his  firm  knew  of  the  Yordas  race.  Young  Brigant 
thought  it  natural  enough  that  his  host,  as  the  lawyer  of 
that  family,  and  their  trusted  adviser  for  five-and-twenty 
years,  should  like  to  talk  over  things  of  an  elder  date,  which 
now  could  be  little  more  than  trifles  of  genealogical  history. 
He  got  some  fine  fishing  and  good  dinners,  and  found  him- 
self pleased  with  the  river  and  the  town,  and  his  very  kind 
host  and  hostess  ;  and  it  came  into  his  head  that  if  Miss 
Emily  grew  up  as  pretty  and  lively  as  she  promised  to  be, 
he  might  do  worse  than  marry  her,  and  open  a  connection 
with  such  a  fishing-station.  At  any  rate,  he  left  her  as  a 
44  chose  in  action,"  which  might  be  reduced  into  possession 
some  fine  day. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Jordas,  after  ^a  long 
and  muddy  ride,  sent  word  that  he  would  like  to  see  the 
master,  for  a  minute  or  two,  if  convenient.  The  days  were 
grown  short,  and  the  candles  lit,  and  Mr.  Jellicorse  was  fast 
asleep,  having  had  a  good  deal  to  get  through  that  day, 
including  an  excellent  supper.  The  lawyer's  wife  said, 
44  Let  him  call  in  the  morning.  Business  is  over,  and  the 
office  is  closed.  Susanna,  your  master  must  not  be  dis- 
turbed." But  the  master  awoke  and  declared  that  he 
would  see  him. 

Candles  were  set  in  the  study,  while  Jordas  was  having  a 
trifle  of  refreshment  ;  and  when  he  came  in,  Mr.  Jellicorse 
was  there,  with  his  spectacles  on,  and  full  of  business. 

44  Asking  of  your  pardon,  sir,  for  disturbing  of  you 
now,"  said  the  dogman,  with  the  rain  upon  his  tarred  coat 
shining,  in  a  little  course  of  drainage  from  his  great  brown 
beard,  44  my  orders  wur  to  lay  this  in  your  own  hand,  and 
seek  answer  to-morrow  by  dinner-time,  if  may  be." 

44  Master  Jordas,  you  shall  have  it,  if  it  can  be.  Do  you 
know  anybody  who  can  promise  more  than  that  ?" 

44  Plenty,  sir,  to  promise  it,  as  you  must  know  by  this 
time  ;  but  never  a  body  to  perform  so  much  as  half.      But 
craving  of  your  pardon  again,  and  separate,   I  wud  foin 
spake  a  word  or  two  of  myself." 
12 


178  MARY   AKEELEY. 

u  Certainly,  Jordas,  I  shall  listen  with  great  pleasure.  A 
fine-looking  fellow  like  you  must  have  affairs.  And  the 
lady  ought  to  make  some  settlement.  It  shall  all  be  done 
for  you  at  half-price." 

"  No,  sir,  it  is  none  o'  that  kind  of  thing,"  the  dogman 
answered,  with  a  smile,  as  if  he  might  have  had  such  oppor- 
tunities, but  would  trouble  no  lawyer  about  them  ;  "  and  I 
get  too  much  of  half-price  at  home.  It  is  about  my  ladies 
I  desire  to  make  speech.  They  keep  their  business  too 
tight,  master." 

"  Jordas,  you  have  been  well  taught  and  trained  ;  and 
you  are  a  man  of  sagacity.  Tell  me  faithfully  what  you 
mean.  It  shall  go  no  farther.  And  it  may  be  of  great 
service  to  your  ladies." 

"  It  is  not  much,  Master  Jellicoose  ;  and  you  may  make 
less  than  that  of  it.  But  a  lie  shud  be  met  and  knocked 
doon,  sir,  according  to  my  opinion." 

"  Certainly,  Jordas,  when  an  action  will  not  lie;  and 
sometimes  even  where  it  does  it  is  wise  to  commit  a  defen- 
sible assault,  and  so  to  become  the  defendant.  Jordas,  you 
are  big  enough  to  do  that." 

u  Master  Jellicoose,  you  are  a  pleasant  man  ;  but  you 
twist  my  maning,  as  a  lawyer  must.  They  all  does  it  to 
keep  their  hand  in.  I  am  speaking  of  the  stories,  sir,  that 
is  so  much  about.  And  I  think  that  my  ladies  should  be 
told  of  them  right  out,  and  come  forward  and  lay  their 
hands  on  them.  The  Yordases  always  did  wrong,  of  old 
time  ;  but  they  never  was  afraid  to  jump  on  it." 

"  My  friend,  you  speak  in  parables.  What  stories  have 
arisen  to  be  jumped  upon  ?" 

"  Well,  sir,  for  one  thing,  they  do  tell  that  the  proper 
owner  of  the  property  is  Sir  Duncan,  now  away  in  India. 
A  man  hath  come  home  who  knows  him  well,  and  sayeth 
that  he  is  like  a  prince  out  there,  with  command  of  a  coun- 
try twice  as  big  as  Great  Britain,  and  they  up  and  made 
'  Sir  Duncan  '  of  him,  by  his  duty  to  the  king.  And  if 
he  cometh  home,  all  must  fall  before  him." 

"  Even  the  law  of  the  land,  I  suppose,  and  the  will  of 
his  own  father.  Pretty  well,  so  far,  Jordas  !  And  what 
next?" 


AK   OLD   SOLDIER.  179 

"  Naught,  sir,  naught.  But  I  thought  I  wur  duty-bound 
to  tell  you  that.  What  is  women  before  a  man  Yordas  ?" 

"  My  good  friend,  we  will  not  despair.  But  you  are 
keeping  back  something  ;  I  know  it  by  your  feet.  You 
are  duty-bound  to  tell  me  every  word  now,  Jordas. ' ' 

"  The  lawyers  is  the  devil,"  said  the  dogman  to  him- 
self ;  and  being  quite  used  to  this  reflection,  Mr.  Jellicorsc 
smiled  and  nodded  ;  "  but  if  you  must  have  it  all,  sir,  it  is 
no  more  than  this.  Jack  o'  the  Smithies,  as  is  to  marry 
Sally  o'  Will  o'  the  Wallhead,  is  to  have  the  lease  of 
Shipboro'  farm,  and  he  is  the  man  as  hath  told  it  all." 

"  Very  well.  We  will  wish  him  good  luck  with  his 
farm,"  Mr.  Jellicorse  answered  cheerfully  ;  "  and,  what  is 
even  rarer  nowadays,  I  fear,  good  luck  of  his  wife,  Master 
Jordas." 

But  as  soon  as  the  sturdy  retainer  was  gone,  and  me  sound 
of  his  heavy  boots  had  died  away,  Mr.  Jellicorse  shook  his 
head  very  gravely,  and  said  as  he  opened  and  looked 
through  his  packet,  which  confirmed  the  words  of  Jordas. 
"  Sad  indiscretion — want  of  legal  knowledge — headstrong 
women — the  very  way  to  spoil  it  all  !  My  troubles  are 
beginning  ;  and  I  had  better  go  to  bed." 

His  good  wife  seconded  this  wise  resolve  ;  and  without 
further  parley  it  was  put  into  effect,  and  proclaimed  to  be 
successful  by  a  symphony  of  snores.  For  this  is  the  excel- 
lence of  having  other  people's  cares  to  carry  (with  the  car- 
riage well  paid),  that  they  sit  very  lightly  on  the  springs  of 
sleep.  That  well-balanced  vehicle  rolls  on  smoothly,  with- 
out jerk,  or  jar,  or  kick,  so  long  as  it  travels  over  alien  land. 

In  the  morning  Mr.  Jellicorse  was  up  to  anything,  legiti- 
mate, legal,  and  likely  to  be  paid  for.  Not  that  he  would 
stir  half  the  breadth  of  one  wheat-corn,  even  for  the  sake  of 
his  daily  bread,  from  the  straight  and  strict  line  of  integ- 
rity. He  had  made  up  his  mind  about  that  long  ago,  not 
only  from  natural  virtue,  strong  and  dominant  as  that  was, 
but  also  by  dwelling  on  his  high  repute,  and  the  solid 
foundations  of  his  character.  He  scarcely  knew  anybody, 
when  he  came  to  think  of  it,  capable  of  taking  such  a  lofty 
course  ;  but  that  simply  confirmed  him  in  his  stern  resolve 
to  do  what  was  right  and  expedient. 


180  MARY   AKERLEY. 

It  was  quite  one  o'clock  before  Jack  o'  the  Smithies 
rang  the  bell  to  see  about  his  lease.  He  ought  to  have  done 
it  two  hours  sooner,  if  he  meant  to  become  a  humble  ten- 
ant ;  and  the  lawyer,  although  he  had  plenty  to  do  of  other 
people's  business,  looked  upon  this  as  a  very  bad  sign. 
Then  he  read  his  letter  of  instructions  once  more,  and 
could  not  but  admire  the  nice  brevity  of  these,  and  the 
skilful  style  of  hinting  much,  and  declaring  very  little. 

For,  after  giving  full  particulars  about  the  farm  and  the 
rent,  and  the  covenants  required,  Mistress  Yordas  proceeded 
thus  : 

"  The  new  tenant  is  the  son  of  a  former  occupant  who 
proved  to  be  a  remarkably  honest  man,  in  a  case  of  strong 
temptation.  As  happens  too  often  with  men  of  probity,  he 
was  misled  and  made  bankrupt,  and  died  about  twelve 
years  ago,  I  think.  Please  to  verify  this  by  reference. 
The  late  tenant  was  his  nephew,  and  has  never  perceived  the 
necessity  of  paying  rent.  We  have  been  obliged  to  dis- 
train as  you  know  ;  and  I  wish  John  Smithies  to  buy  in 
what  he  pleases.  He  has  saved  some  capital  in  India, 
where  I  am  told  that  he  fought  most  gallantly.  Singular  to 
say,  he  has  met  with,  and  perhaps  served  under,  our  la- 
mented and  lost  brother  Duncan,  of  whom  and  his  family 
he  may  give  us  interesting  particulars.  You  know  how  this 
neighborhood  excels  in  idle  talk,  and  if  John  Smithies  be- 
comes our  tenant,  his  discourse  must  be  confined  to  his  own 
business.  But  he  must  not  hesitate  to  impart  to  you  any 
facts  you  may  think  it  right  to  ask  about.  Jordas  will 
bring  us  your  answer  under  seal." 

"  Skilfully  put,  up  to  that  last  word,  which  savors  too 
much  of  teaching  me  my  own  business.  Aberthaw,  are 
you  quite  ready  with  that  lease  ?  It  is  wanted  rather  in  a 
hurry. 7 ' 

As  Mr.  Jellicorse  thought  the  former  and  uttered  the  latter 
part  of  these  words,  it  was  plain  to  see  that  he  was  fidgety. 
He  had  put  on  superior  clothes  to  get  up  with  ;  and  the 
clerks  had  whispered  to  one  another  that  it  must  be  his 
wedding-day,  and  ought  to  end  in  a  half-holiday  all  round, 
and  be  chalked  thenceforth  on  the  calendar  ;  but  instead  of 
being  joyful  and  jocular,  like  a  man  who  feels  a  saving 


Atf   OLD   SOLDIEK.  181 

Providence  over  him,  the  lawyer  was  as  dismal,  and  unset- 
tled, and  splenetic,  as  a  prophet  on  the  brink  of  wedlock. 
But  the  very  last  thing  that  he  ever  dreamed  of  doubting 
was  his  power  to  turn  this  old  soldier  inside  out. 

Jack  o'  the  Smithies  was  announced  at  last  ;  and  the 
lawyer,  being  vexed  with  him  for  taking  such  a  time,  re- 
solved to  let  him  take  a  little  longer  ;  and  kept  him  wait- 
ing, without  any  bread  and  cheese,  for  nearly  half  an  hour. 
The  wisdom  of  doing  this  depended  on  the  character  of  the 
man,  and  the  state  of  his  finances.  And  both  of  these  be- 
ing strong  enough  to  stand,  to  keep  him  so  long  on  his 
legs  was  unwise.  At  last  he  came  in,  a  very  sturdy  sort  of 
fellow,  thinking  no  atom  the  less  of  himself  because  some 
of  his  anatomy  was  honorably  gone. 

"  Servant,  sir,"  he  said,  making  a  salute  ;  u  I  had 
orders  to  come  to  you  about  a  little  lease." 

"  Right,  my  man,  I  remember  now.  You  are  thinking 
of  taking  to  your  father's  farm,  after  knocking  about  for 
some  years  in  foreign  parts.  Ah,  nothing  like  old  England 
after  all.  And  to  tread  the  ancestral  soil,  and  cherish  the 
old  associations,  and  to  nurture  a  virtuous  family  in  the 
fear  of  the  Lord,  and  to  be  ready  with  the  rent — " 

"  Rent  is  too  high,  sir  ;  I  must  have  five  pounds  off.  It 
ought  to  be  ten  by  right.  Cousin  Joe  has  taken  all  out, 
and  put  naught  in." 

"  John  o'  the  Smithies,  you  astonish  me.  I  have  strong 
reason  for  believing  that  the  rent  is  far  too  low.  I  have  no 
instructions  to  reduce  it." 

"  Then  I  must  try  for  another  farm,  sir.  I  can  have 
one  of  better  land  under  Sir  Walter  ;  only  I  seemed  to 
hold  on  to  the  old  place  ;  and  my  Sally  like  to  be  under 
the  old  ladies." 

"  Old  ladies  !  Jack,  what  arc  you  come  to  ?  Beautiful 
ladies  in  the  prime  of  life — but  perhaps  they  would  be  old 
in  India.  I  fear  that  you  have  not  learned  much  behavior. 
But  at  any  rate  you  ought  to  know  your  mind.  Is  it  your 
intention  to  refuse  so  kind  an  offer  (which  was  only  made 
for  your  father's  sake,  and  to  please  your  faithful  Sally), 
simply  because  another  of  your  family  has  not  been  honest 
in  his  farming  ?" 


182  MA  BY   AKERLEY. 

'  4  I  never  have  took  it  in  that  way  before, ' '  the  steady  old 
soldier  answered,  showing  that  rare  phenomenon,  the  dawn 
of  a  new  opinion  upon  a  stubborn  face.  *'  Give  me  a  bit 
to  turn  it  over  in  my  mind,  sir.  Lawyers  be  so  quick,  and 
so  nimble,  and  all-corner 'd. " 

44  Turn  it  over  fifty  times,  Master  Smithies.  We  have 
no  wish  to  force  the  farm  upon  you.  Take  a  pinch  of  snuff 
to  help  your  sense  of  justice.  Or  if  you  would  like  a  pipe, 
go  and  have  it  in  my  kitchen.  And  if  you  are  hungry, 
cook  will  give  you  eggs  and  bacon.'7 

"  No,  sir  ;  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you.  I  never 
make  much  o'  my  thinking.  1  go  by  what  the  Lord  sends 
right  inside  o'  me,  whenever  I  have  decent  folk  to  deal 
with.  And  spite  of  your  cloth,  sir,  you  have  a  honest 
look/' 

'  You  deserve  another  pinch  of  snuff  for  that.  Master 
Smithies,  you  have  a  gift  of  putting  hard  things  softly. 
But  this  is  not  business.  Is  your  mind  made  up  ?" 

'  Yes,  sir.  I  will  take  the  farm,  at  full  rent,  if  the  cov- 
enants are  to  my  liking.  They  must  be  on  both  sides — 
both  sides,  mind  you." 

Mr.  Jellicorse  smiled  as  he  began  to  read  the  draft  pre- 
pared from  a  very  ancient  form  which  was  firmly  estab- 
lished on  the  Scargate  Hall  estates.  The  covenants,  as 
usual,  were  all  upon  one  side,  the  lessee  being  bound  to  a 
multitude  of  things,  and  the  lessor  to  little  more  than  ac- 
ceptance of  the  rent.  But  such  a  result  is  in  the  nature  of 
the  case.  Yet  Jack  o'  the  Smithies  was  not  well  content. 
In  him  true  Yorkshire  stubbornness  was  multiplied  by  the 
dogged  tenacity  of  a  British  soldier  ;  and  the  aggregate 
raised  to  an  unknown  power  by  the  efforts  of  shrewd  igno- 
rance ;  and  at  last  the  lawyer  took  occasion  to  say  : 

"  Master  John  Smithies,  you  are  worthy  to  serve  under 
the  colors  of  a  Yordas. ' ' 

"  That  I  have,  sir,  that  I  have,"  cried  the  veteran,  taken 
unawares,  and  shaking  the  stump  of  his  arm  in  proof  ;  ' 1  I 
have  served  under  Sir  Duncan  Yordas,  who  will  come  home 
some  day  and  claim  his  own  ;  and  he  won't  want  no  cov- 
enants of  me." 

"  You  cannot  have  served  under  Duncan  Yordas,"  Mr. 


A^T   OLD   SOLDIER.  183 

Jellicorse  answered,  with  a  smile  of  disbelief,  craftily  rousing 
the  pugnacity  of  the  man  ;  "  because  he  was  not  even  in  the 
army  of  the  company  or  any  other  army.  I  mean,  of 
course,  unless  there  was  some  other  Duncan  Yordas. " 

"  Tell  me  !"  Jack  o'  the  Smithies  almost  shouted  ; 
"  tell  me  about  Duncan  Yordas  indeed  !  who  he  was,  and 
what  he  wasn't  !  And  what  do  lawyers  know  of  such 
things  ?  Why,  you  might  have  to  command  a  regiment 
and  read  covenants  to  them  out  there  !  Sir  Duncan  was 
not  our  colonel,  nor  our  captain  ;  but  we  was  under  his 
orders,  all  the  more  ;  and  well  he  knew  how  to  give  them. 
Not  one  in  fifty  of  us  was  white  ;  but  he  made  us  all  as 
good  as  white  men  ;  and  the  enemy  never  saw  the  color  of 
our  backs.  I  wish  I  was  out  there  again,  I  do,  and  would 
have  stayed,  but  for  being  hoarse  of  combat  ;  though  the 
fault  was  never  in  my  throat,  but  in  my  arm." 

"  There  is  no  fault  in  your  throat,  John  Smithies,  except 
that  it  is  a  great  deal  too  loud.  I  am  sorry  for  Sally  with 
a  temper  such  as  yours." 

"  That  shows  how  much  you  know  about  it.  I  never 
lose  my  temper,  without  I  hearken  lies.  And  for  you  to 
go  and  say  that  I  never  saw  Sir  Duncan — " 

"  I  said  nothing  of  the  kind,  my  friend.  But  you  did 
not  come  here  to  talk  about  Duncan,  captain,  or  colonel,  or 
nabob,  or  rajah,  or  whatever  potentate  he  may  be — of  him 
we  desire  to  know  nothing  more — a  man  who  ran  away, 
and  disgraced  his  family,  and  killed  his  poor  father,  knows 
better  than  ever  to  set  his  foot  on  Scargatc  land  again. 
You  talk  about  having  a  lease  from  him,  a  man  with  fifty 
wives,  I  dare  say,  and  a  hundred  children  !  We  all  know 
what  they  are,  out  there." 

There  are  very  few  tricks  of  the  human  face  divine  more 
forcibly  expressive  of  contempt  than  the  lowering  of  the 
eyelids,  so  that  only  a  narrow  streak  of  eye  is  exposed  to 
the  fellow-mortal,  and  that  streak  fixed  upon  him  stead- 
fastly ;  and  the  contumely  is  intensified  when  (as  in  the 
present  instance)  the  man  who  does  it  is  gifted  with  yellow 
lashes  on  the  under  lid.  Jack  o'  the  Smithies  treated  Mr. 
Jellicorse  to  a  gaze  of  this  sort  ;  and  the  lawyer,  whose 
wrath  had  been  feigned,  to  rouse  the  other's,  and  so  extract 


184  MARY   ANERLEY. 

full  information,  began  to  feel  his  own  temper  rise.  And 
if  Jack  had  known  when  to  hold  his  tongue,  he  must  have 
had  the  best  of  it.  But  the  lawyer  knew  this,  and  the  sol- 
dier did  not. 

44  Master  Jellicorse,"  said  the  latter,  with  his  forehead 
deeply  wrinked,  and  his  eyes  now  opened  to  their  widest  ; 
44  in  saying  of  that  you  make  a  liar  of  yourself.  Lease  or 
no  lease — that  you  do.  Leasing  stands  for  lying  in  the 
Bible,  and  a'  seemeth  to  do  the  same  thing  in  Yorkshire. 
Fifty  wives  and  a  hundred  children  !  Sir  Duncan  hath 
had  one  wife  and  lost  her,  through  the  Neljan  fever  and 
her  worry  ;  and  a  Yorkshire  lady,  as  you  might  know — 
and  never  hath  he  cared  to  look  at  any  woman  since. 
There  now,  what  you  make  of  that — you  lawyers  that  make 
out  every  man  a  rake,  and  every  woman  a  light  o'  love  ? 
Get  along  !  I  hate  the  lot  o'  you." 

44  "What  a  strange  character  you  are  !  You  must  have 
had  jungle-fever,  I  should  think.  No,  Diana,  there  is  no 
danger  " — for  Jack  o'  the  Smithies  had  made  such  a  noise 
that  Mrs.  Jellicorse  got  frightened,  and  ran  in  ;  44  this  poor 
man  has  only  one  arm  ;  and  if  he  had  two,  he  could  not 
hurt  me,  even  he  wished  it.  Be  pleased  to  withdraw,  Di- 
ana. John  Smithies,  you  have  simply  made  a  fool  of  your- 
self. I  have  not  said  a  word  against  Sir  Duncan  Yordas, 
or  his  wife,  or  his  son — " 

44  He  hath  no  son,  I  tell  you,  and  that  was  partly  how  he 
lost  his  wife. " 

44  Well,  then,  his  daughters,  I  have  said  no  harm  of  them. " 

44  And  very  good  reason — because  he  hath  none.  You 
lawyers  think  you  are  so  clever  ;  and  you  never  know  any- 
thing rightly.  Sir  Duncan  hath  himself  alone  to  see  to,  and 
hundreds  of v thousands  of  darkies  to  manage,  with  a  score 
of  British  bayonets.  But  he  never  heedeth  of  the  bayo- 
nets, not  he." 

44  I  have  read  of  such  men,  but  I  never  saw  them,"  Mr. 
Jellicorse  said,  as  if  thinking  to  himself  ;  44  I  always  feel 
doubt  about  the  possibility  of  them." 

u  He  hath  ten  elephants,"  continued  Soldier  Smithies,  re- 
solved to  crown  the  pillar  of  his  wonders,  while  about  it  ; 
44  ten  great  elephants,  that  come  and  kneel  before  him,  and 


AN   OLD   SOLDIER.  185 

a  thousand  men  ready  to  run  to  his  thumb  ;  and  his  word 
is  law,  better  law  than  is  in  England,  for  scores  and  scores 
of  miles  on  the  top  of  hundreds." 

"  Why  did  you  come  away,  John  Smithies  ?  Why  did 
you  leave  such  a  great  prince,  and  come  home  ?" 

"  Because  it  was  home,  sir,  and  for  sake  of  Sally. " 

u  There  is  some  sense  in  that,  my  friend.  And  now  if 
you  wish  to  make  a  happy  life  for  Sally,  you  will  do  as  I 
advise  you.  Will  you  take  my  advice  ?  My  time  is  of 
value  ;  and  I  am  not  accustomed  to  waste  my  words." 

"  Well,  sir,  I  will  hearken  to  you.  No  man  that  mean- 
eth  it  can  say  more  than  that." 

"  Jack  o'  the  Smithies,  you  arc  acute.  You  have  not 
been  all  over  the  world  for  nothing.  But  if  you  have  made 
up  your  mind  to  settle,  and  be  happy  in  your  native  parts, 
one  thing  must  be  attended  to.  It  is  a  maxim  of  law,  time- 
honored  and  of  the  highest  authority,  that  the  tenant  must 
never  call  in  question  the  title  of  his  landlord.  Before  at- 
torning, you  may  do  so  ;  after  that  you  are  estopped.  Now 
is  it  or  is  it  not  your  wish  to  become  the  tenant  of  the 
Smithies  farm,  which  your  father  held  so  honorably  ? 
Farm-produce  is  fetching  great  prices  now  ;  and  if  you  refuse 
this  offer,  we  can  have  a  man,  the  day  after  to-morrow,  who 
will  give  my  ladies  ten  pounds  more,  and  who  has  not  been 
a  soldier,  but  a  farmer  all  his  life." 

"  Lawyer  Jellicorse,  I  will  take  it  ;  for  Sally  hath  set  her 
heart  on  it  ;  and  I  know  every  crumple  of  the  ground,  better 
than  the  wisest  farmer  doth.  Sir,  I  will  sign  the  articles." 

"  The  lease  will  be  engrossed  by  next  market-day  ;  and 
the  sale  will  be  stopped,  until  you  have  taken  whatever  you 
wish  at  a  valuation.  But  remember  what  I  said — you  arc 
not  to  go  prating  about  this  wonderful  Sir  Duncan,  who  is 
never  likely  to  come  home,  if  he  lives  in  such  grand  state 
out  there,  and  who  is  forbidden  by  his  father's  will  from 
taking  an  acre  of  the  property.  And  as  he  has  no  heirs,  and 
is  so  wealthy,  it  cannot  matter  much  to  him." 

"  That  is  true,"  said  the  soldier  ;  "  but  he  might  love 
to  come  home,  as  all  our  folk  in  India  do  ;  and  if  lie  doth, 
I  will  not  deny  him.  I  tell  you  fairly,  Master  Jellicorse." 

"  I  like  you  for  being  an  outspoken  man,  and  true  to 


186  MARY    AKERLEY. 

those  who  have  used  you  well.  You  could  do  him  no  good 
and  you  might  do  harm  to  others,  and  unsettle  simple 
minds,  by  going  on  about  him  among  the  tenants." 

"  His  name  hath  never  crossed  my  lips  till  now,  aud  shall 
not  again,  without  good  cause.  Here  is  my  hand  upon  it, 
Master  Lawyer. ' ' 

The  lawyer  shook  hands  with  him  heartily,  for  he  could 
not  but  respect  the  man  for  his  sturdiness  and  sincerity. 
And  when  Jack  was  gone,  Mr.  Jcllicorse  played  with  his 
spectacles  and  his  snuff-box  for  several  minutes,  before  he 
could  make  up  his  mind  how  to  deal  with  the  matter. 
Then  hearing  the  solid  knock  of  Jordas,  who  was  bound  to 
take  horse  for  Scargate  House  pretty  early  at  this  time  of 
year  (with  the  weakening  of  the  day  among  the  mountains), 
he  lost  a  few  moments  in  confusion.  The  dogman  could 
not  go  without  any  answer  ;  and  how  was  any  good  answer 
to  be  given  in  half  an  hour,  at  the  utmost  ?  A  time  had 
been  when  the  lawyer  studied  curtness  and  precision  under 
minds  of  abridgment  in  London.  But  the  more  he  had  la- 
bored to  introduce  rash  brevity  into  Yorkshire,  and  to  cut 
away  nine  words  out  of  ten,  when  all  the  ten  meant  one 
thing  only — the  more  of  contempt  for  his  ignorance  he  won, 
and  the  less  money  he  made  out  of  it.  And  no  sooner  did 
he  marry  than  he  was  forced  to  give  up  that,  and,  like  a 
respectable  butcher,  put  in  every  pennyweight  of  fat  that 
could  be  charged  for.  Thus  had  he  thriven  and  grown, 
like  a  goodly  deed  of  fine  amplification  ;  and  if  he  had 
made  Squire  Philip's  will  now,  it  would  scarcely  have  gone 
into  any  breast-pocket.  Unluckily,  it  is  an  easier  thing  to 
make  a  man's  will  than  to  carry  it  out,  even  though  for- 
tune be  favorable. 

In  the  present  case  obstacles  seemed  to  be  arising,  which 
might  at  any  moment  require  great  skill  and  tact  to  sur- 
mount them  ;  and  the  lawyer,  hearing  Jordas  striding  to 
and  fro  impatiently  in  the  waiting-room,  was  fain  to  win 
time  for  consideration  by  writing  a  short  note  to  say  that  he 
proposed  to  wait  upon  the  ladies  the  very  next  day.  For 
he  had  important  news  which  it  seemed  expedient  to  discuss 
with  them.  In  the  mean  time  he  begged  them  not  to  be  at 
all  uneasy  ;  for  his  news  upon  the  whole  was  propitious. 


JACK   AND   JILL   GO   DOWK   THE   GILL.  187 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

JACK    AND    JILL    GO    DOWN    THE    GILL. 

UPON  a  little  beck  that  runs  away  into  the  Lunc,  which 
is  a  tributary  of  the  Tees,  there  stood  at  this  time  a  small 
square  house  of  gray  stone,  partly  greened  with  moss,  or 
patched  with  drip,  and  opening  to  the  sun  with  small  dark 
windows.  It  looked  as  if  it  never  could  be  warm  inside, 
by  sunshine  or  by  fire-glow  ;  and  cared  not,  although  it 
was  the  only  house  for  miles,  whether  it  were  peopled  or 
stood  empty.  But  this  cold  hard-looking  place  just  now 
was  the  home  of  some  hot  and  passionate  hearts. 

The  people  were  poor  ;  and  how  they  made  their  living 
would  have  been  a  mystery  to  their  neighbors,  if  there  had 
been  any.  They  rented  no  land,  and  they  followed  no 
trade,  and  they  took  no  alms  by  hand  or  post  ;  for  the 
begging-letter  system  was  not  yet  invented.  For  the  house 
itself  they  paid  a  small  rent,  which  Jordas  received  on  be- 
half of  his  ladies,  and  always  found  it  ready  ;  and  that  be- 
ing so,  he  had  nothing  more  to  ask,  and  never  meddled 
with  them.  They  had  been  there  before  he  came  into 
office,  and  it  was  not  his  place  to  seek  into  their  history  ; 
and  if  it  had  been,  he  would  not  have  done  it.  For  his 
sympathies  were  (as  was  natural  and  native  to  a  man  so 
placed)  with  all  outsiders,  and  ,the  people  who  compress 
into  one  or  two  generations  that  ignorance  of  lineage  which 
some  few  families  strive  to  defer  for  centuries  ;  showing 
thereby  unwise  insistence,  if  latter-day  theories  are  correct. 

But  if  Master  Jordas  knew  little  of  these  people,  some- 
body else  knew  more  about  them,  and  perhaps  too  much 
about  one  of  them.  Lancelot  Carnaby,  still  called  il  Pet,1' 
in  one  of  those  rushes  after  random  change,  which  the  wild- 
ness  of  his  nature  drove  upon  him,  had  ridden  his  pony  to 
a  standstill  on  the  moor,  one  sultry  day  of  that  August. 
No  pity  or  care  for  the  pony  had  he  ;  but  plenty  of  both 
for  his  own  dear  self.  The  pony  might  be  left  for  the 
crows  to  pick  his  bones,  so  far  as  mattered  to  Pet  Car- 
naby ;  but  it  mattered  very  greatly  to  a  boy  like  him,  to 


188  MARY   AtfERLEY. 

have  to  go  home  upon  his  own  legs.  Long  exertion  was 
hateful  to  him,  though  he  loved  quick  difficulty  ;  for  he 
was  one  of  the  many  who  combine  activity  with  laziness. 
And  while  he  was  wondering  what  he  should  do,  and  wor- 
rying the  fine  little  animal,  a  wave  of  the  wind  carried  into 
his  ear  the  brawling  of  a  beck,  like  the  humming  of  a  hive. 
The  boy  had  forgotten  that  the  moor  just  here  was  broken 
by  a  narrow  glen,  engrooved  with  sliding  water. 

Now,  with  all  his  strength,  which  was  not  much,  he 
tugged  the  panting  and  limping  little  horse  to  the  flat 
breach,  and  then  down  the  steep  of  the  gill,  and  let  him 
walk  into  the  water  and  begin  to  slake  off  a  little  of  the 
crust  of  thirst.  But  no  sooner  did  he  see  him  preparing  to 
rejoice  in  large  crystal  draughts  (which  his  sobs  had  first 
forbidden)  than  he  jerked  him  with  the  bit  and  made  a 
bad  kick  at  him  ;  because  he  could  bear  to  see  nothing 
happy.  The  pony  had  sense  enough  to  reply,  weary  as  he 
was,  with  a  stronger  kick,  which  took  Master  Lancelot  in 
the  knee,  and  discouraged  him  for  any  further  contest. 
Bully  as  he  was,  the  boy  had  too  much  of  ancient  Yordas 
pith  in  him  to  howl,  or  cry,  or  even  whimper,  but  sat 
down  on  a  little  ridge,  to  nurse  his  poor  knee,  and  meditate 
revenge  against  the  animal  with  hoof s.  Presently  pain  and 
wrath  combined  became  too  much  for  the  weakness  of  his 
frame  ;  and  he  fell  back  and  lay  upon  the  hard  ground,  in 
a  fainting  fit. 

At  such  times,  as  everybody  said  (especially  those  whom 
he  knocked  about  in  his  lively  moments),  this  boy  looked 
wonderfully  lovely.  His  features  were  almost  perfect  ; 
and  he  had  long  eyelashes  like  an  Andalusian  girl,  and 
cheeks  more  exquisite  than  almost  any  doll's,  a  mouth  of 
fine  curve,  and  a  chin  of  pert  roundness,  a  neck  of  the 
mould  that  once  was  called  "  Byronic,"  and  curly  dark  hair 
flowing  all  around,  as  fine  as  the  very  best  peruque.  In  a 
word  he  was  just  what  a  boy  ought  not  to  be  who  means  to 
become  an  Englishman. 

Such,  however,  was  not  the  opinion  of  a  creature  even 
more  beautiful  than  he,  in  the  truer  points  of  beauty. 
Coming  with  a  pitcher  for  some  water  from  the  beck,  Insie 
of  the  Gill  (the  daughter  of  Bat  and  Zilpie  of  the  Gill) 


JACK   AND   JILL   GO   DOWN   THE   GILL.  189 

was  quite  amazed,  as  she  chanced  round  a  niche  of  the  bank 
upon  this  image.  An  image  fallen  from  the  sun,  she 
thought  it,  or  at  any  rate  from  some  part  of  heaven  ;  until 
she  saw  the  pony,  who  was  testing  the  geology  of  the  dis- 
trict by  the  flavor  of  its  herbage.  Then  Insie  knew  that 
here  was  a  mortal  boy,  not  dead,  but  sadly  wounded  ;  and 
she  drew  her  short  striped  kirtle  down,  because  her  shapely 
legs  were  bare. 

Lancelot  Carnaby,  coming  to  himself  (which  was  a  poor 
return  for  him),  opened  his  large  brown  eyes,  and  saw  a 
beautiful  girl  looking  at  him.  As  their  eyes  met,  his  inso- 
lent languor  fell — for  he  generally  awoke  from  these  weak 
lapses  into  a  slow  persistent  rage — and  wonder  and  un- 
known admiration  moved  something  in  his  nature  that  had 
never  moved  before.  His  words,  however,  were  scarcely 
up  to  the  high  mark  of  the  moment.  u  Who  are  you  ?" 
was  all  he  said. 

"  I  am  called  '  Insie  of  the  Gill.'  My  father  is  Bat  of 
the  Gill,  and  my  mother  Zilpie  of  the  Gill.  You  must  be  a 
stranger  not  to  know  us. ' ' 

"  I  never  heard  of  you  in  all  my  life  ;  although  you 
seem  to  be  living  on  my  land.  All  the  land  about  here  be- 
longs to  me  ;  though  my  mother  has  it  for  a  little  time." 

"  I  did  not  know,"  she  answered  softly,  and  scarcely 
thinking  what  she  said,  "  that  the  land  belonged  to  any- 
body, besides  the  birds  and  animals.  And  is  the  water 
yours  as  well  ?" 

"  Yes  ;  every  drop  of  it,  of  course.  But  you  are  quite 
welcome  to  a  pitcherful."  This  was  the  rarest  affability  of 
Pet  ;  and  he  expected  extraordinary  thanks. 

But  Insie  looked  at  him  with  surprise.  "  I  am  very 
much  obliged  to  you,"  she  said  ;  "  but  I  never  asked  any 
one  to  give  it  me,  unless  it  is  the  beck  itself  ;  and  the 
beck  never  seems  to  grudge  it." 

4  You  are  not  like  anybody  I  ever  saw.  You  speak  very 
different  from  the  people  about  here  ;  and  you  look  very 
different  ten  times  over. ' ' 

Insie  reddened  at  his  steadfast  gaze,  and  turned  her 
sweet  soft  face  away.  And  yet  she  wanted  to  know  more. 


100  MARY    AKERLEY. 

u  Different  means  a  great  many  things.  Do  you  mean 
that  I  look  better  or  worse  ?" 

"  Better,  of  course  ;  fifty  thousand  times  better  !  Why, 
you  look  like  a  beautiful  lady  !  I  tell  you,  I  have  seen  hun- 
dreds of  ladies  ;  perhaps  you  haven't,  but  I  have.  And 
you  look  better  than  all  of  them." 

"  You  say  a  great  deal  that  you  do  not  think/'  Insie  an- 
swered quietly,  yet  turning  round  to  show  her  face  again  ; 
"  I  have  heard  that  gentlemen  always  do  ;  and  I  suppose 
that  you  are  a  young  gentleman." 

"  I  should  hope  so,  indeed.  Don't  you  know  who  I  am  ? 
I  am  Lancelot  Yordas  Carnaby. ' ' 

"  Why,  you  look  quite  as  if  you  could  stop  the  river," 
she  answered  with  a  laugh,  though  she  felt  his  grandeur. 
''  I  suppose  you  consider  me  nobody  at  all.  But  I  must 
get  my  water. ' ' 

"  You  shall  not  carry  water.  You  arc  much  too  pretty. 
I  will  carry  it  for  you." 

Pet  was  not  "  introspective  ;"  otherwise  he  must  have 
been  astonished  at  himself.  His  mother  and  aunt  would 
have  doubted  their  own  eyes,  if  they  had  beheld  this  most 
dainty  of  the  dainty,  and  mischievous  of  the  mischievous 
(with  pain  and  passion  for  the  moment  vanquished),  care- 
fully carrying  an  old  brown  pitcher.  Yet  this  he  did,  and 
wonderfully  well,  as  he  believed  ;  though  Insie  only  laughed 
to  see  him.  For  he  had  on  the  loveliest  gaiters  in  the  world, 
of  thin  white  buckskin,  with  agate  buttons,  and  breeches  of 
silk,  and  a  long  brocaded  waistcoat,  and  a  short  coat  of  rich 
purple  velvet,  also  a  riding  hat,  with  a  gray  ostrich  plume. 
And  though  he  had  very  little  calf  inside  his  gaiters,  and 
not  much  chest  to  fill  out  his  waistcoat,  and  narrower 
shoulders  than  a  velvet  coat  deserved,  it  would  have  been 
manifest,  even  to  a  tailor,  that  the  boy  had  lineal,  if  not 
lateral,  right  to  his  rich  habiliments. 

Insie  of  the  Gill  (who  seemed  not  to  be  of  peasant  birth, 
though  so  plainly  dressed)  came  gently  down  the  steep 
brookside,  to  see  what  was  going  to  be  done  for  her. 

She  admired  Lancelot,  both  for  bravery  of  apparel  and 
of  action  ;  and  she  longed  to  know  how  he  would  get  a 
good  pitcher  of  water,  without  any  splash  upon  his  clothes. 


JACK    AND   JILL   GO   DOWN   THE   GILL.  191 

So  she  stood  behind  a  little  bush,  pretending  not  to  be  at 
all  concerned,  but  amused  at  having  her  work  done  for 
her.  But  Pet  was  too  sharp  to  play  cat's-paw  for  nothing. 

"  Smile,  and  say  *  thank  you,'  "  he  cried  ;  "  or  I  won't 
do  it.  I  am  not  going  up  to  my  middle  for  nothing  ;  I 
know  that  you  want  to  laugh  at  me. ' ' 

"  You  must  have  a  very  low  middle,"  said  Insic  ;  "  why, 
it  never  comes  half  way  to  my  knees." 

"  You  have  got  no  stockings,  and  no  new  gaiters," 
Lancelot  answered  reasonably  ;  and  then  like  two  children, 
they  set  to  and  laughed,  till  the  gill  almost  echoed  with 
them. 

"  Why,  you're  holding  the  mouth  of  the  pitcher  down 
stream  !"  Insie  could  hardly  speak  for  laughing.  44  Is  that 
how  you  go  to  fill  a  pitcher  ?" 

li  Yes,  and  the  right  way,  too,"  he  answered  ;  "  the 
best  water  always  comes  up  "the  eddies.  You  ought  to  be 
old  enough  to  know  that." 

u  I  don't  know  anything  at  all  ;  except  that  you  are 
ruining  your  best  clothes." 

"  I  don't  care  twopence  for  such  rubbish.  You  ought 
to  see  me  on  a  Sunday,  Insie  ;  if  you  want  to  know  what  is 
good.  There,  you  never  drew  such  a  pitcher  as  that.  And 
I  believe  there  is  a  fish  in  the  bottom  of  it." 

"  Oh,  if  there  is  a  fish,  let  me  have  him  in  my  hands.  I 
can  nurse  a  fish  on  dry  land,  until  he  gets  quite  used  to  it. 
Are  you  sure  that  there  is  a  little,  fish  ?" 

"  No,  there  is  no  fish  ;  and  I  am  soaking  wet.  But  I 
never  care  what  anybody  thinks  of  me.  If  they  say  what  I 
don't  like,  I  kick  them." 

"  Ah,  you  are  accustomed  to  have  your  own  way.  That 
any  one  might  know  by  looking  at  you.  But  I  have  got  a 
quantity  of  work  to  do.  You  can  see  that  by  my  fingers. " 

The  girl  made  a  courtesy,  and  took  the  pitcher  from  him, 
because  he  was  knocking  it  against  his  legs  ;  but  he  could 
not  be  angry  when  he  looked  into  her  eyes  ;  though  the 
habit  of  his  temper  made  him  try  to  fume. 

"  Do  you  know  what  I  think  ?"  she  said,  fixing  bright 
hazel  eyes  upon  him  ;  "  I  think  that  you  are  very  pas- 
sionate sometimes. ' ' 


192  MAKY   ANEKLEY. 

"  Well,  if  I  am,  it  is  my  own  business.  Who  told  you 
anything  about  it  ?  Whoever  it  was  shall  pay  out  for  it. " 

"  Nobody  told  me,  sir.  You  must  remember  that  I 
never  even  heard  of  your  name  before. ' ' 

"  Oh,  come,  I  can't  quite  take  down  that.  Everybody 
knows  me  for  fifty  miles  or  more  ;  and  I  don't  care  what 
they  think  of  me. ' ' 

'  You  may  please  yourself  about  believing  me,"  she 
answered,  without  concern  about  it.  ' '  No  one  who  knows 
me  doubts  my  word  ;  though  I  am  not  known  for  even  five 
miles  away. ' ' 

"  What  an  extraordinary  girl  you  are  !  You  say  things 
on  purpose  to  provoke  me.  Nobody  ever  does  that  ;  they 
are  only  too  glad  to  keep  me  in  a  good  temper." 

4 c  If  you  are  like  that,  sir,  I  had  better  run  away.  My 
father  will  be  home  in  about  an  hour  ;  and  he  might  think 
that  you  had  no  business  here." 

"  I  !  No  business  upon  my  own  land  !  This  place  must 
be  bewitched,  I  think.  There  is  a  witch  upon  the  moors, 
I  know  ;  who  can  take  almost  any  shape  ;  but — but  they 
say  she  is  three  hundred  years  of  age,  or  more." 

"  Perhaps,  then,  I  am  bewitched,"  said  Insie  ;  "  or  why 
should  I  stop  to  talk  with  you,  who  are  only  a  rude  boy 
after  all,  even  according  to  your  own  account  ?" 

"  Well,  you  can  go  if  you  like.  I  suppose  you  live  in 
that  queer  little  place  down  there." 

4  '  The  house  is  quite  good  enough  for  me,  and  my  father, 
and  mother,  and  brother  Maunder.  Good-by,  and  please 
never  to  come  here  again. ' ' 

"  You  don't  understand  me.  I  have  made  you  cry. 
Oh,  Insie,  let  me  have  hold  of  your  hand.  I  would  rather 
make  anybody  cry  than  you.  I  never  liked  anybody  so 
before." 

"  Cry,  indeed  !  Who  ever  heard  me  cry  ?  It  is  the 
way  you  splashed  the  water  up.  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of 
crying  for  a  stranger.  Good-by,  now  ;  and  go  to  your 
great  people.  You  say  that  you  are  bad  ;  and  I  fear  it  is 
too  true. ' ' 

"  I  am  not  bad  at  all.  It  is  only  what  everybody  says  ; 
because  I  never  want  to  please  them.  But  I  want  to  please 


JACK   AND   JILL   GO   DOWN   THE   GILL.  193 

you  !     I  would  give  anything  to  do  it  ;  if  you  would  only 
tell  me  how." 

The  girl  having  cleverly  dried  her  eyes,  poured  all  their 
bright  beauty  upon  him  ;  and  the  heart  of  the  youth  was 
enlarged  with  a  new,  very  sweet,  and  most  timorous  feeling. 
Then  his  dark  eyes  dropped,  and  he  touched  her  gently  ; 
and  only  said,  "  Don't  go  away." 

"  But  I  must  go  away,"  Insie  answered,  with  a  blush, 
and  a  look  as  of  more  tears  lurking  in  her  eyes.  "  I  have 
stopped  too  long  ;  I  must  go  away  at  once." 

"  But  when  may  I  come  again  ?  I  will  hold  you,  and 
fight  for  you  with  everybody  in  the  world  ;  unless  you  tell 
me  when  to  come  again." 

11  Hush  !  I  am  quite  ashamed  to  hear  you  talk  so.  I 
am  a  poor  girl  ;  and  you  a  great  young  gentleman." 

"  Never  mind  that.  That  has  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
Would  you  like  to  make  me  miserable,  and  a  great  deal 
more  wicked  than  I  ever  was  before  ?  Do  you  hate  me  so 
much  as  all  that,  Insie  ?" 

"  No.  You  have  been  very  kind  to  me.  Only  my 
father  would  be  angry,  I  am  sure  ;  and  my  brother  Maun- 
der is  dreadful.  They  all  go  away  every  other  Friday,  and 
that  is  the  only  free  time  I  have." 

"  Every  other  Friday  !  What  a  long  time,  to  be  sure  ! 
Won't  you  come  again  for  water  till  this  day  fortnight  ?" 

* '  Yes  ;  I  come  for  water  three  or  four  times  every  day. 
But  if  they  were  to  see  you,  they  would  kill  you  first,  and 
then  lock  me  up  forever.  The  only  wise  plan  is,  for  j  ou 
to  come  no  more." 

"  You  cannot  be  thinking  for  a  moment  what  you  say. 
I  will  tell  you  what  ;  if  you  don't  come,  I  will  march  up  to 
the  house,  and  beat  the  door  in.  The  landlord  can  do 
that,  according  to  law." 

"  If  you  care  at  all  for  me,"  said  Insie,  looking  as  if  she 
had  known  him  for  ten  years,  "  you  will  do  exactly  what  I 
tell  you.  You  will  think  no  more  about  me  for  a  fort- 
night ;  and  then  if  you  fancy  that  I  can  do  you  good,  by 
advice  about  your  bad  temper,  or  by  teaching  you  how  to 
plait  reeds  for  a  hat,  and  how  to  fill  a  pitcher — perhaps  I 
might  be  able  to  come  down  the  gill  again%" 
13 


194  MARY    AJSEULEY. 

"  I  wish  it  was  to-morrow.  I  shall  count  the  days. 
But  be  sure  to  come  early,  if  they  go  away  all  day.  I  shall 
bring  my  dinner  with  me  ;  and  you  shall  have  the  first 
help  ;  and  I  will  carve.  But  I  should  like  one  thing  before 
I  go  ;  and  it  is  the  first  time  I  ever  asked  anybody  ;  though 
they  ask  me  often  enough,  I  can  tell  you.'7 

"  What  would  you  like  ?  You  seem  to  me  to  be  always 
wanting  something." 

"  I  should  like  very  much — very  much,  indeed— just  to 
give  you  one  kiss,  Insie. " 

"  It  cannot  be  thought  of,  for  a  moment/'  she  replied  ; 
"  and  the  first  time  of  my  ever  seeing  you,  sir  !" 

Before  he  could  reason  in  favor  of  a  privilege  which  goes 
proverbially  by  favor,  the  young  maid  was  gone  upon  the 
winding  path,  with  the  pitcher  truly  balanced  on  her  well- 
tressed  head.  Then  Pet  sat  down  and  watched  her  ;  and 
she  turned  round  in  the  distance,  and  waved  him  a  kiss  at 
decorous  interval. 

Not  more  than  three  days  after  this,  Mrs.  Carnaby  came 
into  the  drawing-room,  with  a  hasty  step,  and  a  web  of 
wrinkles  upon  her  generally  smooth,  white  forehead. 

"  Eliza,"  asked  her  sister,  "  what  has  put  you  out  so  ? 
That  chair  is  not  very  strong,  and  you  are  rather  heavy. 
Do  you  call  that  gracefully  sinking  on  a  seat,  as  we  used  to 
learn  the  way  to  do  at  school  ?" 

"  No,  I  do  not  call  it  anything  of  the  kind.  And  if  I 
am  heavy,  I  only  keep  my  heart  in  countenance,  Philippa. 
You  know  not  the  anxieties  of  a  mother." 

"  I  am  thankful  to  say  that  I  do  not.  I  have  plenty  of 
larger  cares  to  attend  to,  as  well  as  the  anxieties  of  an  aunt 
and  sister.  But  what  is  this  new  maternal  care  ?" 

il  Poor  Pet's  illness — his  serious  illness.  I  am  surprised 
that  you  have  not  noticed  it,  Philippa  ;  it  seems  so  unkind 
of  you." 

"  There  cannot  be  anything  much  amiss  with  him.  I 
never  saw  any  one  eat  a  better  breakfast.  What  makes 
you  fancy  that  the  boy  must  be  unwell  ?" 

"It  is  no  fancy.  He  must  be  very  ill.  Poor  dear  !  I 
cannot  bear  to  think  of  it.  He  has  done  no  mischief  for 
quite  three  days  !" 


JACK    AKD    JILL   GO    DOWN"   THE    GILL.  195 

u  Then  ho  must  indeed  be  at  the  point  of  death.  Oh,  if 
we  could  only  keep  him  always  so,  Eliza  !" 

"  My  dear  sister,  you  will  never  understand  him.  lie 
must  have  his  little  playful  ways.  \Yould  you  like  him  to 
be  a  milksop  ?" 

"  Certainly  not.  But  I  should  like  him  first  to  be  a 
manly  boy,  and  then  a  boyish  man.  The  Yordases  always 
have  been  manly  boys  ;  instead  of  puling,  and  puking,  and 
picking  this,  that,  and  the  other. ' ' 

"  The  poor  child  cannot  help  his  health,  Philippa.  He 
never  had  the  Yordas  constitution.  He  inherits  his  delicate 
system  from  his  poor  dear  gallant  father." 

Mrs.  Carnaby  wiped  away  a  tear  ;  and  her  sister  (who 
never  was  hard  to  her)  spoke  gently,  and  said  there  were 
many  worse  boys  than  he,  and  she  liked  him  for  many  good 
and  brave  points  of  character,  and  especially  for  hating 
medicine." 

li  Philippa,  you  are  right  ;  he  does  hate  medicine,"  the 
good  mother  answered,  with  a  soft,  sad  sigh  ;  "  and  he 
kicked  the  last  apothecary  in  the  stomach,  when  he  made 
certain  of  its  going  down.  But  such  things  arc  trifles, 
dear,  in  comparison  with  now.  If  he  would  only  kick  Jor- 
das,  or  Well  drum,  or  almost  any  one  who  would  take  it 
nicely,  I  should  have  some  hope  that  he  was  coming  to 
himself.  But  to  see  him  sit  quiet  is  so  truly  sad.  He  gets 
up  a  tree  with  his  vast  activity,  and  there  he  sits  moping  by 
the  hour  and  gazing  in  one  fixed  direction.  I  am  almost 
sure  that  he  has  knocked  his  leg  ;  but  he  flew  into  a  fury 
when  I  wanted  to  examine  it  ;  and  when  I  made  a  poultice, 
there  was  Saracen  devouring  it  ;  and  the  nasty  dog  swal- 
lowed one  of  iny  lace  handkerchiefs." 

"  Then  surely  you  are  unjust,  Eliza,  in  lamenting  all  lack 
of  mischief.  But  I  have  noticed  things  as  well  as  you. 
And  yesterday  I  saw  something  more  portentous  than 
anything  you  have  told  me.  I  came  upon  Lancelot  sud- 
denly, in  the  last  place  where  I  should  have  looked  for  him. 
He  was  positively  in  the  library,  and  reading — reading  a 
real  book." 

11  A  book,  Philippa  !  Oh,  that  settles  everything.  He 
must  have  gone  altogether  out  of  his  sane  mind." 


196  MARY   A^TERLEY. 

"  Not  only  was  it  a  book,  but  even  a  book  of  what  peo- 
ple call  poetry.  You  have  beard  of  tbat  bold  young  man 
over  the  mountains,  who  is  trying  to  turn  poetry  upside 
down,  by  making  it  out  of  every  single  thing  he  sees  ;  and 
who  despises  all  the  pieces  that  we  used  to  learn  at  school. 
I  cannot  remember  his  name  ;  but  never  mind.  I  thought 
that  we  ought  to  encourage  him,  because  he  might  know 
some  people  in  this  neighborhood  ;  and  so  I  ordered  a  book 
of  his.  Perhaps  I  told  you  ;  and  that  is  the  very  book 
your  learned  boy  was  reading. ' ' 

"  Philippa,  it  seems  to  me  impossible  almost.  He  must 
have  been  looking  at  the  pictures.  I  do  hope  he  was  only 
looking  at  the  pictures. ' ' 

"  There  is  not  a  picture  in  the  book  of  any  sort.  He  was 
reading  it,  and  saying  it  quite  softly  to  himself  ;  and  I  felt 
that  if  you  saw  him,  you  would  send  for  Dr.  Spraggs. " 

44  Ring  the  bell  at  once,  dear,  if  you  will  be  kind  enough. 
I  hope  there  is  a  fresh  horse  in  the  stable.  Or  the  best 
way  would  be  to  send  the  jumping  car  ;  then  he  would  be 
certain  to  come  back  at  once." 

44  Do  as  you  like.  I  begin  to  think  that  we  ought  to 
take  proper  precautions.  But  when  that  is  done,  I  will  tell 
you  what  I  think  he  may  be  up  the  tree  for. " 

A  man  with  the  jumping  car  was  soon  dispatched,  by 
urgency  of  Jordas,  for  Dr.  Spraggs,  who  lived  several  miles 
away,  in  a  hamlet  to  the  westward,  inaccessible  to  anything 
that  could  not  jump  right  nimbly.  But  the  ladies  made  a 
slight  mistake  :  they  caught  the  doctor,  but  no  patient. 

For  Pet  being  well  up  in  his  favorite  tree,  poring  with 
great  wonder  over  "  Lyrical  Ballads,"  which  took  his  fancy 
somehow,  thence  descried  the  hateful  form  of  Dr.  Spraggs, 
too  surely  approaching  in  the  seat  of  honor  of  the  jumping 
car.  Was  ever  any  poesy  of  such  power  as  to  elevate  the 
soul  above  the  smell  of  physic.  The  lofty  poet  of  the 
lakes  and  fells  fell  into  Pet's  pocket  anyhow,  and  down 
the  off-side  of  the  tree  came  he,  with  even  his  bad  leg 
ready  to  be  foremost  in  giving  leg-bail  to  the  medical  man. 
The  driver  of  the  jumping  car  espied  this  action  ;  but 
knowing  that  he  would  have  done  the  like,  grinned  softly, 


YOUNG   GILLYFLOWERS.  197 

and  said  nothing.  And  long  after  Dr.  Spraggs  was  gone, 
leaving  behind  him  sage  advice,  and  a  vast  benevolence  of 
bottles,  Pet  returned,  very  dirty  and  hungry,  and  cross, 
and  most  unpoetical. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

YOUNG      GILLYFLOWERS. 

"  DRUM,"  said  Pet,  in  his  free  and  easy  style,  about  ten 
days  after  that  escape,  to  a  highly  respected  individual, 
Mr.  Welldrum,  the  butler  ;  "  Drum,  you  have  heard  per- 
haps about  my  being  poorly." 

44  Ay,  that  I  have,  and  too  much  of  it,"  replied  the 
portly  butler,  busy  in  his  office  with  inferior  work,  which 
he  never  should  have  had  to  do,  if  rightly  estimated.  ' '  What 
you  wants,  Master  Lancelot,  is  a  little  more  of  this  here  sort 
of  thing — sleeves  up — elbow  grease — scrub  away  at  hold 
ancient  plate,  and  be  blowed  up  if  you  puts  a  scratch  on 
it  ;  and  the  more  you  sweats,  the  less  thanks  you  gets." 

"  Drum,  when  you  come  to  be  my  butler,  you  shall  have 
all  the  keys  allowed  you,  and  walk  about  with  them  on  a 
great  gold  ring,  with  a  gold  chain  down  to  your  breeches 
pocket.  You  shall  dine  when  you  like,  and  have  it  cooked 
on  purpose,  and  order  it  directly  after  breakfast  ;  and  you 
shall  have  the  very  best  hot-water  plates  ;  because  you  hate 
grease,  don't  you,  Drum  ?" 

"  That  I  do  ;  especial  from  young  chaps  as  wants  to  get 
something  out  of  me." 

u  I  am  always  as  good  as  my  word  ;  come  now." 

u  That  you  are,  sir  ;  and  nothing  very  grand  to  say,  con- 
sidering the  hepithets  you  applies  to  me  sometimes.  But 
you  han't  insulted  me  for  three  days  now  ;  and  that  proves 
to  my  mind  that  you  can't  be  quite  right." 

"  But  you  would  like  to  see  me  better.  I  am  sure  you 
would.  There  is  nobody  so  good  to  you  as  I  am,  Drum  ; 
and  you  are  very  crusty  at  times,  you  know.  Your 
daughter  shall  be  the  head  cook  ;  and  then  everything  must 
be  to  your  liking." 


198  MAHY   A^STEKLEY. 

u  Master  Lancelot,  you  speaks  fair.  What  can  I  have 
the  honor  of  doing  for  you,  sir,  to  set  you  up  again  in  your 
poor  dear  'ealth  ?" 

44  Well,  you  hate  physic  ;  don't  you,  Drum  ?  And  you 
make  a  strict  point  of  never  taking  it/7 

44  I  never  knew  no  good  to  come  out  of  no  bottle,  with- 
out it  were  a  bottle  of  old  crusted  port  wine.  Ah  !  you 
likes  that,  Master  Lancelot. " 

44  I'll  tell  you  what  it  is,  Drum  ;  I  am  obliged  to  be  very 
careful.  The  reason  why  I  don't  get  on  is  from  taking 
my  meals  too  much  in-doors.  There  is  no  fresh  air  in  these 
old  rooms.  I  have  got  a  man  who  says — I  could  read  it  to 
you  ;  but  perhaps  you  don't  care  to  hear  poetry,  Drum  ?" 
The  butler  made  a  face,  and  put  the  leather  to  his  ears. 
4  Very  well,  then  ;  I  am  only  just  beginning  ;  and  it's  like 
claret,  you  must  learn  to  come  to  it.  But  from  what  he 
says,  and  from  my  own  stomach,  I  intend  to  go  and  dine 
out  of  doors  to-day. " 

u  Lord  !  Master  Lancelot,  you  must  be  gone  clean  daft. 
How  ever  could  you  have  hot  gravy,  sir  ?  And  all  the 
Yordases  hates  cold  meat.  Your  poor  dear  grandfather — 
ah  !  he  was  a  man." 

44  So  am  I.  And  I  have  got  half-a-guinea.  Now, 
Drum,  you  do  just  what  I  tell  you  ;  and  mind,  not  a  word 
to  any  one.  It  will  be  the  last  coin  you  ever  see  of  mine, 
either  now,  or  in  all  my  life,  remember,  if  you  let  my 
mamma  ever  hear  of  it.  Y7ou  slip  down  to  the  larder  and 
get  me  a  cold  grouse,  and  a  cold  partridge,  and  two  of  the 
hearthstone  cakes,  and  a  pat  of  butter,  arid  a  pinch  of  salt, 
and  put  them  in  my  army-knapsack  Aunt  Philippa  gave 
me  ;  also  a  knife  and  fork  and  plate  ;  and  let  me  see — 
what  had  I  better  have  to  drink  ?" 

44  Well,  sir,  if  I  might  offer  an  opinion,  a  pint  bottle  of 
dry  port,  or  your  grandfather's  Madeira." 

44  Young  ladies — young  gentlemen  I  mean,  of  course — 
never  take  strong  wines  in  the  middle  of  the  day.  Bucel- 
las,  Drum — Bucellas  is  the  proper  thing.  And  when  you 
have  got  it  all  together,  turn  the  old  cat  into  the  larder, 
and  get  away  cleverly  by  your  little  door,  and  put  my  knap- 
sack in  the  old  oak  tree,  the  one  that  was  struck  by  light- 


YOUNG   GILLYFLOWERS.  100 

ning.  Now,  do  you  understand  all  about  it  ?  It  must  all 
be  ready  in  half  an  hour.  And  if  I  make  a  good  dinner 
out  on  the  moor,  why,  you  might  get  another  half-guinea 
before  long."  And  with  these  words  away  strode  Pet. 

"  Well,  well  !"  the  butler  began  muttering  to  himself  ; 
44  what  wickedness  are  you  up  to  next?  A  lassie  in  his 
head,  and  his  dear  mammy  thought  he  was  sickening  over 
his  wisdom-teeth  !  lie  is  beginning  airly,  and  no  mistake. 
But  the  gals  are  a  coarse  ugly  lot  about  here  " — Master 
Welldrum  was  not  a  Yorkshireman — "  and  the  Jad  hath 
good  taste  in  the  matter  of  wine  ;  although  he  is  that  con- 
trairy,  Solomon's  self  could  not  be  upsides  with  him.  Fall 
fair,  fall  foul,  I  must  humor  the  boy  ;  or  out  of  this  place 
I  go,  neck  and  crop. ' ' 

Accordingly,  Pet  found  all  that  he  had  ordered,  and  sev- 
eral little  things  which  he  had  not  thought  of,  especially  a 
corkscrew  and  a  glass  ;  and  forgetting  half  his  laziness,  he 
set  oil  briskly,  keeping  through  the  trees  where  no  window 
could  espy  him,  and  down  a  little  side-glen,  all  afoot  ;  for 
it  seemed  to  him  safer  to  forego  his  pony. 

The  gill  (or  "  gliyll,"  as  the  poet  writes  it),  from  which 
the  lonely  family  that  dwelled  there  took  their  name,  was 
not  upon  the  bridle-road  from  Scargate  Hall  toward  Middle- 
ton,  nor  even  within  eye  or  reach  of  any  road  at  all  ;  but 
overlooked  by  kites  alone,  and  tracked  with  thoroughfare 
of  nothing  but  the  mountain  streamlet.  The  four  who  lived 
there — "  Bat,  and  Zilpie,  Maunder,  and  Insie  of  the 
Gill  " — had  nothing  to  do  with,  and  little  to  say  to,  any  of 
the  scatterling  folk  about  them,  across  the  blue  distance  of 
the  moor.  They  ploughed  no  land,  they  kept  no  cattle, 
they  scarcely  put  spade  in  the  ground  ;  except  for  about  a 
fortnight  in  April,  when  they  broke  up  a  strip  of  alluvial 
soil  new  every  season,  and  abutting  on  the  brook  ;  and  there 
sowed  or  planted  their  vegetable  crop,  and  left  it  to  the 
clemency  of  heaven.  Yet  twice  every  year  they  were  ready 
with  their  rent  when  it  suited  Master  Jordas  to  come  for  it ; 
since  audits  at  the  hall  and  tenants'  dinners  were  not  to 
their  liking.  The  rent  was  a  trifle  ;  but  Jordas  respected 
them  highly  for  handing  it  done  up  in  white  paper,  without 
even  making  him  leave  the  saddle.  How  many  paid  less, 


200  MARY   AtfERLEY. 

or  paid  nothing  at  all,  yet  came  to  the  dinners  under  rent 
reservation  of  perhaps  one  mark  ;  then  strictly  reserved  their 
rent,  but  failed  not  to  make  the  most  punctual  and  liberal 
marks  upon  roast  beef  and  plum  pudding  ! 

But  while  the  worthy  dograan  got  his  little  bit  of  money, 
sealed  up  and  so  correct  that  (careful  as  he  was)  he  never 
stopped  now  to  count  it,  even  his  keen  eyes  could  make  noth- 
ing of  these  people,  except  that  they  stood  upon  their  dig- 
nity. To  him  they  appeared  to  be  of  gypsy  race  ;  or  partly 
of  wild  and  partly  perhaps  of  Lancastrian  origin  ;  for  they 
rather  "  featured"  the  Lancashire  than  the  Yorkshire  type 
of  countenance,  yet  without  any  rustic  coarseness,  whether 
of  aspect,  voice,  or  manners.  The  story  of  their  settle- 
ment  in  this  glen  had  flagged  out  of  memory  of  gossip,  by 
reason  of  their  calm  obscurity  ;  and  all  that  survived  was 
the  belief  that  they  were  queer,  and  the  certainty  that  they 
would  not  be  meddled  with. 

Lancelot  Yordas  Carnaby  was  brave,  both  in  the  outward 
and  the  inward  boy,  when  he  struck  into  the  gill  from  a 
trackless  spread  of  moor,  not  far  from  the  source  of  the 
beck  that  had  shaped  or  been  shaped  by  this  fissure.  He 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  learn  all  about  the  water  that 
filled  sweet  Insie's  pitcher  ;  and  although  the  great  poet  of 
nature  as  yet  was  only  in  early  utterance,  some  of  his  words 
had  already  touched  Pet,  as  he  had  never  been  touched 
before  ;  but  perhaps  that  fine  effect  was  due  to  the  sapping 
power  of  first  love. 

Yet  first  love,  however  it  may  soften  and  enlarge  a  petu- 
lant and  wayward  nature,  instead  of  increasing,  cuts  short 
and  crisp  the  patience  of  the  patient.  When  Lancelot  was 
as  near,  as  manners  and  prudence  allowed,  to  that  lonesome 
house,  he  sat  down  quietly  for  a  little  while,  in  a  little  niche 
of  scrubby  bush,  whence  he  could  spy  the  door.  For  a 
short  time  this  was  very  well  ;  also  it  was  well  to  be  fur- 
nishing his  mind  with  a  form  for  the  beautiful  expressions  in 
it,  and  prepare  it  for  the  order  of  their  coming  out.  And 
when  he  was  sure  that  these  were  well  arranged,  and  could 
not  fail  at  any  crisis,  he  found  a  further  pastime  in  consid- 
ering his  boots,  then  his  gaiters,  and  small-clothes  (which 
were  of  lofty  type),  and  his  waistcoat  elegant  for  anybody's 


YOUKG   GILLYFLOWERS.  201 

bosom.  But  after  a  bit,  even  this  began  to  pall  ;  and 
when  one  of  his  feet  went  fast  asleep,  in  spite  of  its  beau- 
tiful surroundings,  he  jumped  up  and  stamped,  and  was  not 
so  very  far  from  hot  words  as  he  should  have  been.  For 
his  habit  was  not  so  much  to  want  a  thing  as  to  get  it  be- 
fore he  wanted  it  ;  which  is  very  poor  training  for  the 
trials  of  the  love-time. 

But  just  as  he  was  beginning  to  resolve  to  be  wise,  and 
eat  his  victuals,  now  or  never,  and  be  sorry  for  any  one  who 
came  too  late,  there  came  somebody  by  another  track, 
whose  step  made  the  heart  rise  and  the  stomach  fall.  Lan- 
celot's mind  began  to  fail  him  all  at  once  ;  and  the  spirit, 
that  was  ready  with  a  host  of  words,  fluttered  away  into  a 
quaking  depth  of  silence.  Yet  Insie  tripped  along  as  if  the 
world  held  no  one,  to  cast  a  pretty  shadow  from  the  auu 
beside  her  own. 

Even  the  youngest  girls  are  full  of  little  tricks  far  beyond 
the  oldest  boy's  comprehension.  But  the  wonder  of  all 
wonders  is,  they  have  so  pure  a  conscience  as  never  to  be 
thinking  of  themselves  at  all,  far  less  of  any  one  who  thinks 
too  much  of  them.  "  I  declare  she  has  forgotten  that  she 
ever  saw  me  !"  Lancelot  muttered  to  the  bush  in  which 
he  trembled.  *4  It  would  serve  her  right,  if  I  walked 
straight  away."  But  he  looked  again,  and  could  not  help 
looking  more  than  many  times  again,  so  piercing  (as  an 
ancient  poet  puts  it)  is  the  shaft  from  the  eyes  of  the 
female  women.  And  Insie  was ,  especially  a  female  girl — 
which  has  now  ceased  to  be  tautology — so  feminine  were  her 
walk,  and  way,  and  sudden  variety  of  unreasonable  charm. 

4  4  Dear  me !  I  never  thought  to  see  you  any  more,  sir, ' ? 
said  she,  with  a  bright  blush,  perhaps  at  such  a  story,  as 
Pet  jumped  out  eagerly,  with  hands  stretched  forth.  "  It 
is  the  most  surprising  thing.  And  we  might  have  done 
very  well  with  rain-water. ' ' 

44  Oh,  Insie  !  don't  be  so  cold-hearted.  Who  can  drink 
rain-water  ?  I  have  got  something  very  good  for  you  in- 
deed. I  have  carried  it  all  the  way  myself  ;  and  only  a 
strong  man  could  have  done  it.  Why,  you  have  got  stock- 
ings on,  I  declare  ;  but  I  like  you  much  better  without 
them." 


202  MARY    ANERLEY. 

11  Then,  Master  Lancelot  Yordas  Carnaby,  you  had  bet- 
ter go  home  with  all  your  good  things." 

44  You  are  totally  mistaken  about  that.  I  could  never 
get  these  things  into  the  house  again  without  being  caught 
out  to  a  certainty.  It  shows  how  little  girls  know  of  any- 
thing." 

44  A  girl  cannot  be  expected,"  she  answered,  looking 
most  innocently  at  him,  4'  to  understand  anything  sly  or 
cunning.  Why  should  anything  of  that  sort  be  ?" 

44  Well  if  it  comes  to  that,"  cried  Pet,  who  (like  all  un- 
reasonable people)  had  large  rudiments  of  reasoning  ; 
"  why  should  not  I  come  up  to  your  door,  and  knock,  and 
say,  4  I  want  to  see  Miss  Insie  ;  I  am  fond  of  Miss  Insie, 
and  have  got  something  good  for  her  ?'  That  is  what  I 
shall  do  next  time." 

"  If  you  do,  my  brother  Maunder  will  beat  you  dread- 
fully— so  dreadfully  that  you  will  never  walk  home.  But 
don't  let  us  talk  of  such  terrible  things.  You  must  never 
come  here,  if  you  think  of  such  things.  I  would  not  have 
you  hurt  for  all  the  world  ;  for  sometimes  I  think  that  I 
like  you  very  much." 

The  lovely  girl  looked  at  the  handsome  boy,  as  if  they 
were  at  school  together,  learning  something  difficult  ; 
which  must  be  repeated  to  the  other's  eyes,  with  a  nod,  or 
a  shake  of  the  head,  as  may  be.  A  kind,  and  pure,  and  soft 
gaze  she  gave  him  ;  as  if  she  would  love  his  thoughts,  if  he 
could  explain  them.  And  Pet  turned  away,  because  he 
could  not  do  so. 

44  I'll  tell  you  what  it  is,"  he  said  bravely,  while  his 
heart  was  thrilling  with  desire  to  speak  well  ;  44  we  will  set 
to  at  once,  and  have  a  jolly  good  spread.  I  told  my  man 
to  put  up  something  very  good  ;  because  I  was  certain  that 
you  would  be  very  hungry." 

4<  Surely  you  were  not  so  foolish  as  to  speak  of  me  ?" 

44  No,  no,  no  ;  I  know  a  trick  worth  two  of  that.  I  was 
not  such  a  fool  as  to  speak  of  you,  of  course.  But — " 

44  But,  I  would  never  condescend  to  touch  one  bit.  You 
were  ashamed  to  say  a  word  about  me,  then,  were  you  ?" 

44  Insie,  now  Insie,  too  bad  of  you  it  is.  You  can  have 
no  idea  what  those  butlers  and  footmen  are,  if  ever  you  tell 


YOUNG   GILLYFLOWERS.  203 

them  anything.  They  are  worse  than  the  maids  ;  they  go 
down-stairs,  and  they  get  all  the  tidbits  out  of  the  cook, 
and  sit  by  the  girl  they  like  best ;  on  the  strength  of  having 
a  secret  about  their  master. ' ' 

44  Well,  you  are  cunning  !"  cried  the  maiden  with  a 
sigh.  44  I  -thought  that  your  nature  was  loftier  than  that. 
No,  I  do  not  know  anything  of  butlers  and  footmen  ;  and  I 
think  that  the  less  I  know  of  you  the  better." 

44  Oh,  Insie,  darling  Insie,  if  you  run  away  like  that — I 
have  got  both  your  hands,  and  you  shall  not  run  away.  Do 
you  want  to  kill  me,  Insie  ?  They  have  had  the  doctor  for 
me." 

44  Oh,  how  very  dreadful  !  That  does  sound  dreadful. 
I  am  not  at  all  crying  ;  and  you  need  not  look.  But  what 
did  he  say  ?  Please  to  tell  me  what  he  said." 

44  He  said,  4  salts  and  senna.'  But  I  got  up  a  high  tree. 
Let  us  think  of  nicer  things.  It  is  enough  to  spoil  one's 
dinner.  Oh,  Insie,  what  is  anything  to  eat  or  drink,  com- 
pared with  looking  at  you,  when  you  are  good  ?  If  1  could 
only  tell  you  the  things  that  I  have  felt,  all  day  and  all 
night,  since  this  day  fortnight,  how  sorry  you  would  be  for 
having  evil  thoughts  of  me  !" 

"I  have  no  evil  thoughts;  I  have  no  thoughts  at  all. 
But  it  puzzles  me  to  think  what  on  earth  you  have  been 
thinking.  There,  1  will  sit  down,  and  listen  for  a 
moment. ' ' 

44  And  I  may  hold  one  of  your  hands  ?  I  must,  or  you 
would  never  understand  me.  Why,  your  hands  are  much 
smaller  than  mine,  I  declare  !  And  mine  arc  very  small  ; 
because  of  thinking  about  you.  Now,  you  need  not 
laugh — it  does  spoil  everything  to  laugh  so.  It  is  more 
than  a  fortnight  since  I  laughed  at  all.  You  make  me  feel 
so  miserable.  But  would  you  like  to  know  how  I  felt  ? 
Mind,  I  would  rather  cut  my  head  off  than  tell  it  to  any 
one  in  the  world  but  you." 

44  Now,  I  call  that  very  kind  of  you  ;  if  you  please,  I 
should  like  to  know  how  you  have  been  feeling."  With 
these  words  Insie  came  quite  close  up  to  his  side  ;  and 
looked  at  him  so  that  he  could  hardly  speak.  "  You  may 
say  it  in  a  whisper,  if  you  like,"  she  said  ;  44  there  is  no- 


204  MARY  ANERLEY. 

body  coming  for  at  least  three  hours  ;  and  so  you  may  say 
it  in  a  whisper. ' ' 

44  Then  I  will  tell  you  ;  it  was  just  like  this.  You 
know  that  I  began  to  think  how  beautiful  you  were  at  the 
very  first  time  1  looked  at  you.  But  you  could  not  expect 
me  so  to  love  you  all  at  once  as  I  love  you  now,  dear 
Insie." 

41  I  cannot  understand  any  meaning  in  such  things." 
But  she  took  a  little  distance  ;  quite  as  if  she  did. 

44  Well,  I  went  away  without  thinking  very  much  ;  be- 
cause I  had  a  bad  place  in  my  knee — a  blue  place  bigger 
than  the  new  half-crown,  where  you  saw  that  the  pony 
kicked  me.  I  had  him  up,  and  thrashed  him  when  I  got 
home  ;  but  that  has  got  nothing  to  do  with  it — only  that  I 
made  him  know  who  was  his  master.  And  then  I  tried  to 
go  on  with  a  lot  of  things  as  usual  ;  but  somehow  I  did  not 
care  at  all.  There  was  a  great  rat-hunt,  that  I  had  been 
thinking  of  more  than  three  weeks,  when  they  got  the 
straddles  down,  to  be  ready  for  the  new  ricks  to  come  in- 
stead. But  I  could  not  go  near  it  ;  and  it  made  them 
think  that  the  whole  of  my  inside  was  out  of  order.  And 
it  must  have  been.  I  can  see  by  looking  back  ;  it  must 
have  been  so,  without  my  knowing  it.  I  hit  several  people 
with  my  holly  on  their  shins  ;  because  they  knew  more 
than  I  did.  But  that  was  no  good  ;  nor  was  anything  else. 
I  only  got  more  and  more  out  of  sorts,  and  could  not  stay 
quiet  anywhere  ;  and  yet  it  was  no  good  to  me,  to  try  to 
make  a  noise.  All  day  I  went  about,  as  if  I  did  not  care 
whether  people  contradicted  me  or  not,  or  where  I  was,  or 
what  time  I  should  get  back,  or  whether  there  would  be  any 
dinner.  And  I  tucked  up  my  feet  in  my  night-gown  every 
night  ;  but  instead  of  stopping  there,  as  they  always  used  to 
do,  they  were  down  in  cold  places  immediately  ;  and  in- 
stead of  any  sleep,  I  bit  holes  by  the  hundred  in  the 
sheets,  with  thinking.  I  hated  to  be  spoken  to,  and  I  hated 
everybody  ;  and  so  I  do  now,  whenever  I  come  to  think 
about  them." 

41  Including  even  poor  me,  I  suppose  ?"  Insie  had  won- 
derfully pretty  eyebrows,  and  a  pretty  way  of  raising  them, 
and  letting  more  light  into  her  bright  hazel  eyes. 


YOUNG   GILLYFLOWERS.  205 

"  No,  I  never  seemed  to  hate  you  ;  though  I  often  was 
put  out,  because  I  could  never  make  your  face  come  well. 
I  was  thinking  of  you  always  ;  but  I  could  not  see  you. 
Now  tell  me  whether  you  have  been  like  that." 

"  Not  at  all  ;  but  I  have  thought  of  you  once  or  twice, 
and  wondered  what  could  make  you  want  to  come  and  see 
me.  If  I  were  a  boy,  perhaps  I  could  understand  it  !" 

"  I  hate  boys  ;  I  am  a  man  all  over  now.  I  am  old 
enough  to  have  a  wife  ;  and  I  mean  to  have  you.  How 
much  do  you  suppose  my  waistcoat  cost  ?  Well,  never 
mind,  because  you  are  not  rich.  But  I  have  got  money 
enough  for  both  of  us  to  live  well  ;  and  nobody  can  keep 
me  out  of  it.  You  know  what  a  road  is,  I  suppose — a 
good  road  leading  to  a  town.  Have  you  ever  seen  one  ? 
A  brown  place  with  hedges  on  each  side,  made  hard  and 
smooth  for  horses  to  go  upon,  and  wheels  that  make  a  rum- 
ble. Well,  if  you  will  have  me,  and  behave  well  to  me, 
you  shall  sit  up  by  yourself  in  a  velvet  dress,  with  a  man 
before  you  and  a  man  behind,  and  believe  that  you  are 
frying." 

44  But  what  would  become  of  my  father,  and  my  mother, 
and  my  brother  Maunder  ?" 

"  Oh,  they  must  stop  here,  of  course.  We  shouldn't 
want  them.  But  I  would  give  them  all  their  house  rent- 
free,  and  a  fat  pig  every  Christmas.  Now,  you  sit  there, 
and  spread  your  lap  ;  that  I  may  help  you  properly.  I 
Avant  to  see  you  eat  ;  you  must, learn  to  cat  like  a  lady  of 
the  highest  quality  ;  for  that  you  are  going  to  be,  I  can  tell 
you." 

The  beautiful  maid  of  the  gill  smiled  sweetly,  sitting  on 
the  low  bank  with  the  grace  of  simple  nature,  and  the  play- 
fulness of  girlhood.  She  looked  up  at  Lancelot,  the  self- 
appointed  man,  with  a  bright  glance  of  curious  contempla- 
tion ;  and  contemplation  (of  any  other  subject  than  self)  is 
dangerously  near  contempt.  She  thought  very  little  of  his 
large,  free  brag,  of  his  patronizing  manner,  and  fine  self- 
content,  reference  of  everything  to  his  own  standard, 
beauty  too  feminine,  and  instead  of  female  gentleness, 
highly  cultivated  waywardness.  But  in  spite  of  all  that  she 
could  not  help  liking,  and  sometimes  admiring  him,  when 


206  MARY   AKERLEY. 

he  looked  away.  Arid  now  he  was  very  busy  with  the 
high  feast  he  had  brought. 

"  To  begin  with,"  he  said,  when  his  good  things  were 
displayed  ;  u  you  must  remember  that  nothing  is  more  vul- 
gar than  to  be  hungry.  A  gentleman  may  have  a  tremen- 
dous appetite  ;  but  a  lady  never. ' ' 

u  But  why,  but  why  ?  That  does  seem  foolish.  I  have 
read  that  the  ladies  are  always  helped  first.  That  must  be 
because  of  their  appetites. ' ' 

"  Insie,  I  tell  you  things  ;  not  the  reasons  of  them. 
Things  are  learned  by  seeing  other  people,  and  not  by 
arguing  about  them. ' ' 

"  Then  you  had  better  eat  your  dinner  first,  and  let  me 
sit  and  watch  you.  And  then  I  can  eat  mine  by  imitation  ; 
that  is  to  say,  if  there  is  any  left. ' ' 

*'  You  are  one  of  the  oddest  people  I  have  ever  seen. 
You  go  round  the  corner  of  all  that  I  say,  instead  of  fol- 
lowing properly.  When  we  are  married,  you  will  always 
make  me  laugh.  At  one  time  they  kept  a  boy  to  make  me 
laugh  ;  but  I  got  tired  of  him.  Now  I  help  you  first  ; 
although  I  am  myself  so  hungry.  I  do  it  from  a  lofty  feel- 
ing, which  my  Aunt  Philippa  calls  '  chivalry.'  Ladies  talk 
about  it  when  they  want  to  get  the  best  of  us.  I  have 
given  you  all  the  best  part,  you  see  ;  and  I  only  keep  the 
worst  of  it  for  myself. ' ' 

If  Pet  had  any  hope  that  his  self-denial  would  promptly 
be  denied  to  him,  he  made  a  great  mistake  ;  for  the  damsel 
of  the  gill  had  a  healthy  moorland  appetite,  and  did  justice 
to  all  that  was  put  before  her  ;  and  presently  he  began,  for 
the  first  time  in  his  life,  to  find  pleasure  in  seeing  another 
person  pleased.  But  the  wine  she  would  not  even  taste,  in 
spite  of  persuasion  and  example  ;  the  water  from  the  brook 
was  all  she  drank,  and  she  drank  as  prettily  as  a  pigeon. 
Whatever  she  did  was  done  gracefully  and  well. 

u  I  am  very  particular/7  he  said  at  last  ;  "  but  you  are 
fit  to  dine  with  anybody.  How  have  you  managed  to  learn 
it  all  ?  You  take  the  best  of  everything,  without  a  word 
about  it,  as  gently  as  great  ladies  do.  I  thought  that  you 
would  want  me  to  eat  the  nicest  pieces  ;  but  instead  of 
that,  you  have  left  me  bones  and  drumsticks  !" 


YOUNG   GILLYFLOWERS.  207 

lie  gave  such  a  melancholy  look  at  these,  that  Insic 
laughed  quite  merrily.  "  I  wanted  to  see  you  practise 
chivalry,"  she  said. 

"  Well,  never  mind  ;  I  shall  know  another  time.  In- 
stead of  two  birds  I  shall  order  four  ;  and  other  things  in 
proportion.  But  now  I  want  to  know  about  your  father 
and  your  mother.  They  must  be  respectable  people,  to 
judge  by  you.  What  is  their  proper  name,  and  how  much 
have  they  got  to  live  upon  ?" 

"  More  than  you  ;  a  great  deal  more  than  you,"  she  an- 
swered, with  such  a  roguish  smile  that  he  forgot  his  griev- 
ances, or  began  to  lose  them  in  the  mist  of  beauty. 

"  More  than  me  !  And  they  live  in  such  a  hole,  where 
only  the  crows  come  near  them  ?" 

"  Yes,  more  than  you,  sir.  They  have  their  wits  to  live 
upon,  and  industry,  and  honesty." 

Pet  was  not  old  enough  yet  in  the  world  to  say,  "  What 
is  the  use  of  all  those  ?  All  their  income  is  starvation." 
He  was  young  enough  to  think  that  those  who  owned  them 
had  advantage  of  him  ;  for  he  knew  that  he  was  very  lazy. 
Moreover,  he  had  heard  of  such  people  getting  on — 
through  the  striking  power  of  exception,  so  much  more 
brilliant  than  the  rule — when  all  the  blind  virtues  found 
luck  to  lead  them.  Industry,  honesty,  and  ability  always 
get  on  in  story-books  ;  and  nothing  is  nicer  than  to  hear  a 
pretty  story.  But  in  some  ways  Pet  was  sharp  enough. 

"  Then  they  never,  will  want  that  house  rent-free,  nor 
the  fat  pig,  nor  any  other  presents.  Oh,  Insie,  how  very 
much  better  that  will  be  !  I  find  it  so  much  nicer  always 
to  get  things  than  to  give  them.  And  people  are  so  good- 
natured  when  they  have  done  it,  and  can  talk  of  it.  Insie, 
they  shall  give  me  something  when  I  marry  you  ;  and  as 
often  as  they  like  afterward. ' ' 

"  They  will  give  you  something  you  will  not  like,"  she 
answered,  with  a  laugh  and  a  look  along  the  moor,  "  if  you 
stay  here  too  long,  chattering  with  me.  Do  you  know 
what  o'clock  it  is  ?  I  know  always,  whether  the  sun  is  out 
or  in.  You  need  show  no  gold  watch  to  me." 

"  Oh,  that  comes  of  living  in  a  draught  all  day.     The 


208  MARY   ANERLEY. 

out-door  people  grow  too  wise.     What  do  you  see  about 
ten  miles  off  ?     It  must  be  ten  miles  to  that  hill." 

"  That  hill  is  scarcely  five  miles  off  ;  and  what  I  see  is 
not  half  of  that.  I  brought  you  up  here,  to  be  quite  safe. 
Maunder's  eyes  are  better  than  mine.  But  he  will  not  see 
us,  for  another  mile,  if  you  cover  your  grand  waistcoat, 
because  we  are  in  the  shadows.  Slip  down  into  the  gill 
again,  and  keep  below  the  edge  of  it  ;  and  go  home  as  fast 
as  possible. ' ' 

Lancelot  felt  inclined  to  do  as  he  was  told,  and  keep  to 
safe  obscurity.  The  long  uncomfortable  loneliness  of  pros- 
pect, and  dim  airy  distance  of  the  sinking  sun,  and  deeply 
silent  emptiness  of  hollows,  where  great  shadows  began  to 
crawl — in  the  waning  of  the  day,  and  so  far  away  from 
home,  all  these  united  to  impress  upon  a  boy  a  spiritual  in- 
fluence, whose  bodily  expression  would  be  the  appearance 
of  a  clean  pair  of  heels.  But,  to  meet  this  sensible  impulse, 
there  arose  the  stubborn  nature  of  his  race,  which  hated  to 
be  told  to  do  anything,  and  the  dignity  of  his  new-born 
love — such  as  it  was — and  the  thought  of  looking  small. 

"  Why  should  I  go  ?"  he  said  ;  "  I  will  meet  them,  and 
tell  them  that  I  am  their  landlord,  and  have  a  right  to  know 
all  about  them.  My  grandfather  never  ran  away  from  any- 
body. And  they  have  got  a  donkey  with  them." 

44  They  will  have  two,  if  you  stop,"  cried  Insie  ; 
although  she  admired  his  spirit.  "  My  father  is  a  very 
quiet  man.  But  Maunder  would  take  you  by  the  throat 
and  cast  you  down  into  the  beck." 

44 1  should  like  to  see  him  try  to  do  it.  I  am  not  so  very 
strong  ;  but  I  am  active  as  a  cat.  I  have  no  idea  of  being 
threatened. ' ' 

1  4  Then  will  you  be  coaxed  ?  I  do  implore  you,  for  my 
sake,  to  go,  or  it  will  be  too  late.  Never,  never  will  you 
see  me  again,  unless  you  do  what  I  beseech  of  you." 

44  I  will  not  stir  one  peg  unless  you  put  your  arms  round 
my  neck  and  kiss  me,  and  say  that  you  will  never  have  any- 
body else." 

Insie  blushed  deeply,  and  her  bright  eyes  flashed  with 
passion,  not  of  loving  kind.  But  it  went  to  her  heart  that 
he  was  brave,  and  that  he  loved  her  truly.  She  flung  her 


LOVE    MILITANT.  209 

comely  arms  round  his  neck  and  touched  her  rosy  lips  with 
his  ;  and  before  he  could  clasp  her  she  was  gone,  with  no 
more  comfort  than  these  words  : 

"  Now,  if  you  are  a  gentleman,  you  must  go,  and  never 
come  near  this  place  again." 

Not  a  moment  too  soon  he  plunged  into  the  gill,  and 
hurried  up  its  winding  course  ;  but  turning  back  at  the  cor- 
ner, saw  a  sweet  smile  in  the  distance,  and  a  wave  of  the 
hand,  that  warmed  his  heart. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

LOVE     MILITANT. 

So  far  so  good.  But  that  noble  and  exalted  condition 
of  the  youthful  mind,  which  is  to  itself  pure  wisdom's  ze- 
nith, but  to  folk  of  coarse  maturity  and  tough  experience 
"  calf-love,"  superior  as  it  is  to  words  and  reason,  must  be 
left  to  its  own  course.  The  settled  resolve  of  a  middle- 
aged  man,  with  seven  large-appetited  children,  and  an 
eighth  approaching  the  shores  of  light,  while  baby-linen 
too  often  transmitted  betrays  a  transient  texture,  and  hose 
has  ripened  into  holes,  and  breeches  verify  their  name,  and 
a  knock  at  the  door  knocks  at  the  heart — the  fixed  resolu- 
tion of  such  a  man  to  strike  a  bold  stroke,  for  the  sake  of 
his  home,  is  worthier  of  attention  than  the  flitting  fancy 
of  boy  and  girl,  who  pop  upon  one  another,  and  skip 
through  zigzag  vernal  ecstasy,  like  the  weathery  dalliance 
of  gnats. 

Lieutenant  Carroway  had  dealt,  and  done  with,  amorous 
grace  and  attitude,  soaring  rapture,  and  profundity  of  sigh, 
suspense  (more  agonizing  than  suspension),  despair,  pros- 
tration, grinding  of  the  teeth,  the  hollow  and  spectral 
laughter  of  a  heart  forever  broken,  and  all  the  other  symp- 
toms of  an  annual  bill  of  vitality  ;  and  every  new  pledge 
of  his  affections  sped  him  toward  the  pledge-shop.  But 
never  had  he  crossed  that  fatal  threshold  ;  the  thought  of 
his  uniform  and  dignity  prevailed  ;  and  he  was  not  so  mean 
as  to  send  a  child  to  do  what  the  father  was  ashamed  of. 
14 


210  MAKY   ANERLEY. 

So  it  was  scarcely  to  be  expected  that  even  as  a  man  he 
should  sympathize  deeply  with  the  tender  passion,  and  far 
less  as  a  coast-guardsman  with  the  wooing  of  a  smuggler. 
Master  Robin  Lyth,  by  this  time,  was  in  the  contraband 
condition  known  to  the  authorities  as  love  ;  Carroway  had 
found  out  this  fact,  but  instead  of  indulging  in  generous 
emotion,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  nab  him  through  it.  For 
he  reasoned  as  follows  ;  and  granting  that  reason  has  any 
business  on  such  premises,  the  process  does  not  seem  amiss. 

A  man  in  Jove  has  only  got  one-eighth  part  of  his  wits  at 
home,  to  govern  the  doings  of  his  arms,  legs,  and  tongue. 
A  large  half  is  occupied  with  his  fancy,  in  all  the  wander- 
ings of  that  creature,  dreamy,  flimsy,  anchoring  with  gos- 
samer, climbing  the  sky  with  steps  of  fog,  cast  into  abysms 
(as  great  writers  call  it)  by  imaginary  demons,  and  even 
at  its  best  in  a  queer  condition,  pitiful,  yet  exceeding 
proud.  A  quarter  of  the  mental  power  is  employed  in 
wanting  to  know  what  the  other  people  think  ;  an  eighth 
part  ought  to  be  dwelling  upon  the  fair  distracting  object  ; 
and  only  a  small  eighth  can  remain  to  attend  to  the  busi- 
ness of  the  solid  day.  But  in  spite  of  all  this,  such  lads 
get  on,  about  as  well  as  usual.  If  Bacchus  has  a  protective 
power,  Venus  has  no  less  of  it,  and  possibly  is  more  active, 
as  behooves  a  female. 

And  surely  it  was  a  cold-blooded  scheme,  which  even 
the  Revenue  should  have  excised  from  an  honest  scale  of 
duties,  to  catch  a  poor  fellow  in  the  meshes  of  love  ;  be- 
cause he  was  too  sharp  otherwise.  This,  however,  was  the 
large  idea  ripening  in  the  breast  of  Carroway. 

"  To-night  I  shall  have  him,"  he  said  to  his  wife,  who 
was  inditing  of  softer  things,  her  eighth  confinement,  and 
the  shilling  she  had  laid  that  it  would  be  a  boy  this  time  ; 
44  the  weather  is  stormy  ;  yet  the  fellow  makes  love  be- 
tween the  showers  in  a  barefaced  way.  That  old  fool  of  a 
tanner  knows  it,  and  has  no  more  right  feeling  than  if  he 
were  a  boy.  Aha,  my  Robin,  fine  robin  as  you  are,  I  shall 
catch  you  piping  with  your  Jenny  Wren  to-night  !"  The 
lieutenant  shared  the  popular  ignorance  of  simplest  natural 
history. 

*'  Charles,  you  never  should  have  told  me  of  it.      Where 


LOVE   MILITANT.  211 

is  your  feeling  for  the  days  gone  by  ?  And  as  for  his  com- 
ing between  the  showers,  what  should  I  have  thought  of 
you,  if  you  had  made  a  point  of  bringing  your  umbrella  ? 
My  dear,  it  is  wrong,  and  I  beg  you,  for  my  sake,  not  to 
catch  him  with  his  true  love,  but  only  with  his  tubs. " 

44  Matilda,  your  mind  is  weakened  by  the  coming  trial  of 
your  nerves.  I  would  rather  have  him  with  his  tubs,  of 
course  ;  they  would  set  us  up  for  several  years,  and  his  silks 
would  come  in  for  your  churching.  But  everything  can- 
not be  as  we  desire.  And  he  carries  large  pistols,  when  he 
is  not  courting.  Do  you  wish  me  to  be  shot,  Matilda  ?'7 

4  *  Captain  Carroway,  how  little  thought  you  have  to  speak 
to  me  in  that  way  !  And  I  felt  before  dinner  that  I  never 
should  get  over  it.  Oh,  who  would  have  the  smugglers  on 
her  mind  at  such  a  time  ?" 

44  My  dear,  I  beg  your  pardon.  Pray  exert  your 
strength  of  mind,  and  cast  such  thoughts  away  from  you 
— or  perhaps  it  will  be  a  smuggler.  And  yet  if  it  were, 
how  much  better  it  would  pay  !" 

44  Then  I  hope  it  will,  Charles  ;  I  heartily  hope  it  will 
be.  It  would  serve  you  quite  right  to  be  snaring  your  own 
son,  after  snaring  a  poor  youth  through  his  sweetheart. ' ' 

44  Well,  well,  time  will  show.  Put  me  up  the  flat  bot- 
tle, Tilly,  and  the  knuckle  of  pork  that  was  left  last  night. 
Goodness  knows  when  I  shall  be  back  ;  and  I  never  like 
to  rack  my  mind  upon  an  empty  stomach. ' ' 

The  revenue-officer  had  far  ^0  go,  and  was  wise  in  pro- 
viding provender.  And  the  weather  being  on  the  fall  tow- 
ard the  equinox,  and  the  tides  running  strong  and  uncer- 
tain, he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  fare  inland,  instead  of 
attempting  the  watery  ways.  He  felt  that  he  could  ride, 
as  every  sailor  always  feels  ;  and  he  had  a  fine  horse  upon 
hire  from  his  butcher,  which  the  king  himself  would  pay 
for.  The  inferior  men  had  been  sent  ahead  on  foot,  with 
orders  to  march  along  and  hold  their  tongues.  And  one  of 
these  men  was  John  Cadman,  the  self-same  man  who  had 
descended  the  cliff  without  any  foot-path.  They  were  all  to 
be  ready,  with  hanger  and  pistol,  in  a  hole  toward  Byrsa 
Cottage. 

Lieutenant  Carroway  enjoyed  his  ride.     There  are  men 


MARY   ANERLEY. 

to  whom  excitement  is  an  elevation  of  the  sad  and  slow 
mind,  which  otherwise  seems  to  have  nothing  to  do.  And 
what  finer  excitement  can  a  good  mind  have  than  in  bal- 
ancing the  chances  of  its  body  tumbling  out  of  the  saddle, 
and  evicting  its  poor  self  ? 

The  mind  of  Charles  Carroway  was  wide  awake  to  this, 
and  tenderly  anxious  about  the  bad  foot  in  which  its  owner 
ended — because  of  the  importance  of  the  stirrups — and  all 
the  sanguine  vigor  of  the  heart  (which  seemed  to  like  some 
thumping)  conveyed  to  the  seat  of  reason  little  more  than  a 
wish  to  be  well  out  of  it.  The  brave  lieutenant  holding 
place,  and  sticking  to  it  through  a  sense  of  duty,  and  of  the 
difficulty  of  getting  off,  remembered  to  have  heard,  when 
quite  a  little  boy,  that  a  man  who  gazes  steadily  between 
his  horse's  ears  cannot  possibly  tumble  off  the  back.  The 
saying  in  its  wisdom  is  akin  to  that  which  describes  the 
potency  of  salt  upon  a  sparrow's  tail. 

While  Carroway  gloomily  pounded  the  road,  with  reflec- 
tion a  dangerous  luxury,  things  of  even  deeper  interest 
took  their  course  at  the  goal  of  his  endeavors.  Mary  Aner- 
ley,  still  at  exile  in  the  house  of  the  tanner,  by  reason  of 
her  mother's  strict  coast-guard,  had  long  been  thinking 
that  more  injustice  is  done  in  the  world  than  ought  to  be  ; 
and  especially  in  the  matter  of  free-trade,  she  had  imbibed 
lax  opinions,  which  may  not  be  abhorrent  to  a  tanner's  na- 
ture, but  were  most  unbecoming  to  the  daughter  of  a  farm- 
er orthodox  upon  his  own  land,  and  an  officer  of  King's 
Fencibles.  But  how  did  Mary  make  this  change,  and  upon 
questions  of  public  policy  chop  sides,  as  quickly  as  a  clever 
journal  does  ?  She  did  it  in  the  way  in  which  all  women 
think,  whose  thoughts  are  of  any  value,  by  allowing  the 
heart  to  go  to  work,  being  the  more  active  organ,  and  create 
large  scenery,  into  which  the  tempted  mind  must  follow. 
To  anybody  whose  life  has  been  saved  by  anybody  else, 
there  should  arise  not  only  a  fine  image  of  the  preserver, 
but  a  high  sense  of  the  service  done  to  the  universe,  which 
must  have  gone  into  deepest  mourning  if  deprived  of  No. 
one.  And  then  almost  of  necessity  succeeds  the  investment 
of  this  benefactor  to  the  world  at  large  with  all  the  great 
qualities,  needed  for  an  exploit  so  stupendous.  He  has 


LOVE   MILITANT.  213 

dono  a  great  deed,  he  has  proved  himself  to  be  gallant, 
generous,  magnanimous  ;  shall  I,  who  exist  through  his 
grand  nobility,  listen  to  his  very  low  enemies  ?  Therefore 
Robin  was  an  angel  now,  and  his  persecutors  must  be  de- 
mons. 

Captain  Lyth  had  not  been  slow  to  enter  into  his  good 
luck.  He  knew  that  Master  Popplewell  had  a  cultivated 
taste  for  rare  old  schnapps,  while  the  partner  of  his  life, 
and  labor,  and  repose  possessed  a  desire  for  the  finer  kinds 
of  lace.  Attending  to  these  points,  he  was  always  wel- 
come ;  and  the  excellent  couple  encouraged  his  affection 
and  liberal  good-will  toward  them.  But  Mary  would  ac- 
cept no  presents  from  him,  and  behaved  for  a  long  lime 
very  strangely,  and  as  if  she  would  rather  keep  out  of  his 
way.  Yet  he  managed  to  keep  on  running  after  her,  as 
much  as  she  managed  to  run  away  ;  for  he  had  been  down  now 
into  the  hold  of  his  heart,  searching  it  with  a  dark  lantern, 
and  there  he  had  discovered  4<  Mary,"  "  Mary,"  not  only 
branded  on  the  hullage  of  all  things,  but  the  pith  and  pack 
of  everything  ;  and  without  any  fraud  upon  charter-party, 
the  cargo  entire  was  "  Mary." 

Who  can  tell  what  a  young  maid  feels  when  she  herself 
is  doubtful  ?  Somehow  she  has  very  large  ideas,  which 
only  come  up  when  she  begins  to  think  ;  and  too  often, 
after  some  very  little  thing,  she  exclaims  that  all  is  rubbish. 
The  keynote  of  her  heart  is  high,  and  a  lot  of  things  fall 
below  harmony,  and  notably  (if  she  is  not  a  stupe)  some 
of  her  own  dear  love's  expressions  before  she  has  made  up 
her  soul  to  love  him.  This  is  a  hard  time  for  almost  any 
man  who  feels  his  random  mind  dipped  into  with  a  spirit- 
gauge  and  a  saccharometer.  But,  in  spite  of  all  these  in- 
dications, Robin  Lyth  stuck  to  himself  ;  which  is  the  right 
way  to  get  credit  for  sticking. 

"  Johnny,  my  dear,"  said  Deborah  Popplewell  to  her 
valued  husband,  just  about  the  time  when  bold  Carroway 
was  getting  hot  and  sore  upon  the  Filey  Road,  yet  steadily 
enlarging  all  the  penance  of  return  ;  "  things  ought  to  be 
coming  to  a  point,  I  think.  We  ought  not  to  let  them  so 
be  going  on  forever.  Young  people  like  to  be  married  in 
the  spring  ;  the  birds  are  singing,  and  the  price  of  coal 


214  MARY   ANERLEY. 

goes  down.  And  they  ought  to  be  engaged  six  months  at 
least.  We  were  married  in  the  spring,  my  dear,  the  Tues- 
day but  one  that  comes  next  from  Easter-day.  There  was 
no  lilac  out,  but  there  ought  to  have  been,  because  it  was 
not  sunny.  And  we  have  never  repented  it,  you  know. " 

4<  Never  as  long  as  I  live  shall  I  forget  that  day,"  said 
Popplewell  ;  "  they  sent  me  home  a  suit  of  clothes  as  were 
made  for  kidney-bean  sticks.  I  did  want  to  look  nice  at 
church,  and  crack,  crack,  crack  they  went,  and  out  came  all 
the  lining.  Debby,  I  had  good  legs  in  those  days,  and 
could  crunch  down  bark  like  brewer's  grains." 

"  And  so  you  could  now,  my  dear,  every  bit  as  well. 
Scarcely  any  of  the  young  men  have  your  legs.  How 
thankful  we  ought  to  be  for  them — and  teeth  !  But  every- 
thing seems  to  be  different  now,  and  nobody  has  any  dig- 
nity of  mind.  We  sowed  broad  beans,  like  a  pigeon's  foot- 
tread,  out  and  in,  all  the  way  to  church." 

tc  The  folk  can  never  do  such  things  now  ;  we  must  not 
expect  it  of  such  times,  my  dear.  Five-and-forty  years  ago 
was  ninety  times  better  than  these  days,  Debby,  except  that 
you  and  I  was  steadfast,  and  mean  to  be  so  to  the  end,  God 
willing.  Lord  !  what  are  the  lasses  that  He  makes  now  ?" 

"  Johnny,  they  try  to  look  their  best  ;  and  we  must  not 
be  hard  upon  them.  Our  Mary  looks  well  enow,  when 
she  hath  a  color  ;  though  my  eyes  might  a'  been  a  brighter 
blue  if  I  never  hadn't  took  to  spectacles.  Johnny,  I  am 
sure  a'most  that  she  is  in  her  love-time.  She  crieth  at 
night,  which  is  nobody's  business  ;  the  strings  of  her  night- 
cap run  out  of  their  starch  ;  and  there  looks  like  a  channel 
on  the  pillow,  though  the  sharp  young  hussy  turns  it  upside 
down.  I  shall  be  upsides  with  her,  if  you  won't." 

"  Certainly  it  shall  be  left  to  you  ;  you  are  the  one  to 
do  it  best.  You  push  her  on,  and  I  will  stir  him  up.  I 
will  smuggle  some  schnapps  into  his  tea  to-night,  to  make 
him  look  up  bolder  ;  as  mild  as  any  milk  it  is.  When  T 
was  taken  with  your  cheeks,  Debby,  and  your  bit  of  money, 
I  was  never  that  long  in  telling  you." 

'l  That's  true  enow,  Johnny,  you  was  earcy.  But  I'm 
thinkin'  of  the  trouble  we  may  get  into,  over  at  Anerley 
about  it. ' ' 


LOVE  MILITANT.  215 

"  I'll  carry  that,  lass.  My  back's  as  broad  as  Stephen's. 
What  more  can  they  want  for  her  than  a  fine  young  fellow, 
a  credit  to  his  business  and  the  country  ?  Lord  !  how  I 
hate  them  rough  coast- riders  ;  it  wouldn't  be  good  for  them 
to  come  here." 

"  Then  they  are  here,  I  tell  you,  and  much  they  care. 
You  seem  to  me  to  have  shut  your  eyes  since  ever  you  left 
off  tanning.  How  many  times  have  I  told  you,  John,  that 
a  sneaking  fellow  hath  got  in  with  Sue  ?  I  saw  him  with 
my  own  eyes  last  night  skulking  past  the  wicket-gate  ;  and 
the  girl's  addlepate  is  completely  turned.  You  think  her 
such  a  wonder,  that  you  won't  hearken.  But  I  know  the 
women  best,  I  do." 

"  Out  of  this  house  she  goes,  neck  and  crop,  if  what  you 
say  is  true,  Deb.  Don't  say  it  again,  that's  a  kin i,  good 
soul  ;  it  spoils  my  pipe  to  think  of  it." 

Toward  sundown  Robin  Lyth  appeared,  according  to  in- 
vitation. Dandy  as  be  generally  was,  he  looked  unusually 
smart  this  time,  with  snow-white  ducks,  and  a  velvet  waist- 
coat, pumps  like  a  dressing-glass,  lace  to  his  shirt,  and  a 
blue  coat  with  gold  buttons.  His  keen  eyes  glanced  about 
for  Mary,  and  sparkled  as  soon  as  she  came  down  ;  and  when 
he  took  her  hand,  she  blushed,  and  was  half  afraid  to  look 
at  him  ;  for  she  felt  in  her  heart  that  he  meant  to  say  some- 
thing, if  he  could  find  occasion  ;  but  her  heart  did  not  tell 
her  what  answer  she  would  make,  because  of  her  father's 
grief  and  wrath  ;  so  she  tried  to  hope  that  nothing  would 
be  said,  and  she  kept  very  near  her  good  aunt's  apron-string. 
Such  tactics,  however,  were  doomed  to  defeat.  The  host 
and  hostess  of  Byrsa  Cottage  were  very  proud  of  the  tea 
they  gave  to  any  distinguished  visitor.  Tea  was  a  luxury, 
being  very  dear,  and  although  large  quantities  were  smug- 
gled, the  quality  was  not,  like  that  of  other  goods  so  im- 
ported, equal  or  superior  to  the  fair  legitimate  staple.  And 
l\obin,  who  never  was  shy  of  his  profession,  confessed  that 
he  could  not  supply  a  cup  so  good. 

"  You  shall  come  and  have  another  out  of  doors,  my 
friend,"  said  his  entertainer  graciously  ;  "  Mary,  take  the 
captain's  cup  to  the  bower  ;  the  rain  has  cleared  off,  and 
the  evening  will  be  fine.  I  will  smoke  my  pipe,  and  we 


216  MARY  AffEBLEY. 

will  talk  adventures.  Things  have  happened  to  me  that 
would  make  you  stare,  if  I  could  bring  myself  to  tell  them. 
Ah,  yes,  I  have  lived  in  stirring  times.  Fifty  years  ago, 
men  and  women  knew  their  minds  ;  and  a  dog  could  eat 
his  dinner  without  a  damask  napkin.7' 

Master  Popple  well,  who  was  of  a  good  round  form,  and 
tucked  his  heels,  over  one  another  as  he  walked  (which  in- 
dicates a  pleasant  self-esteem),  now  lit  his  long  pipe  and 
marched  ahead,  carefully  gazing  to  the  front  and  far  away  ; 
so  that  the  young  folk  might  have  free-boot  and  free-hand 
behind  him.  That  they  should  have  flutters  of  loving-kind- 
ness, and  crafty  little  breaths  of  whispering,  and  extraordi- 
nary gifts  of  just  looking  at  each  other  in  time  not  to  be 
looked  at  again,  as  well  as  a  strange  sort  of  in  and  out  of 
feeling,  as  if  they  were  patterned  with  the  same  zigzag — as 
the  famous  Herefordshire  graft  is  made — and  above  all  the 
rest,  that  they  should  desire  to  have  no  one  in  the  world  to 
look  at  them,  was  to  be  expected  by  a  clever  old  codger,  a 
tanner  who  had  realized  a  competence,  and  eaten  many 
"tanner's  pies."  The  which  is  a  good  thing;  and  so 
much  the  better,  because  it  costs  nothing  save  the  crust  and 
the  coal.  But  instead  of  any  pretty  little  goings  on,  such 
as  this  worthy  man  made  room  for — to  tell  the  stupid  truth, 
this  lad  and  lass  came  down  the  long  walk  as  far  apart  and 
as  independent  of  one  another  as  two  stakes  of  an  espalier. 
There  had  not  been  a  word  gone  amiss  between  them,  nor 
even  a  thought  the  wrong  way  of  the  grain  ;  but  the  pres- 
sure of  fear,  and  of  prickly  expectation,  was  upon  them 
both,  and  kept  them  mute.  The  lad  was  afraid  that  he 
would  get  "  nay  ;"  and  the  lass  was  afraid  that  she  could 
not  give  it. 

The  bower  was  quite  at  the  end  of  the  garden,  through 
and  beyond  the  pot-herb  part,  and  upon  a  little  bank  which 
overhung  a  little  lane.  Here  in  this  corner  a  good  woman 
had  contrived  what  women  nearly  always  understand  the 
best,  a  little  nook  of  pleasure  and  of  perfume,  after  the 
rank  ranks  of  the  kitchen-stuff.  Not  that  these  are  to  be 
disdained  ;  far  otherwise,  they  indeed  are  the  real  business, 
and  herein  lies  true  test  of  skill.  But  still  the  flowers 
may  declare  that  they  do  smell  better.  And  not  only  were 


LOVE   MILITANT.  217 

there  flowers  here,  and  little  shrubs  planted  sprucely,  but 
also  good  grass  ;  which  is  always  softness,  and  soothes  the 
impatient  eyes  of  men.  And  on  this  grass  there  stood,  or 
hung,  or  flowered,  or  did  whatever  it  was  meant  to  do,  a 
beautiful  weeping  ash,  the  only  one  anywhere  in  that 
neighborhood. 

"  I  can't  look  at  skies,  and  that — have  seen  too  many  of 
them.  You  young  folk,  go  and  chirp  under  the  tree. 
What  I  want  is  a  little  rum  and  water. " 

With  these  words  the  tanner  went  into  his  bower,  where 
he  kept  a  good  store  of  materials  in  moss  ;  and  the  plaited 
ivy  of  the  narrow  entrance  shook  with  his  voice,  and  steps, 
and  the  decision  of  his  thoughts.  For  he  wanted  to  see 
things  come  to  a  point,  and  his  only  way  to  do  it  was  to  get 
quite  out  of  sight.  Such  fools  the  young  people  of  the  age 
were  now  ! 

While  his  thoughts  were  such,  or  scarcely  any  better,  his 
partner  in  life  came  down  the  walk,  with  a  heap  of  little 
things  which  she  thought  needful  for  the  preservation  of 
the  tanner  ;  and  she  waddled  a  little  and  turned  her  toes 
out,  for  she  as  well  was  roundish. 

"  Ah,  you  ought  to  have  Sue.  Where  is  Sue  ?"  said 
Master  Popplewell.  ' i  Now  come  you  in  out  of  the  way  of 
the  wind,  Debby  ;  you  know  how  your  back  sinew  ached 
with  the  darning  before  last  wash." 

Mrs.  Popplewell  grumbled,  but  obeyed  ;  for  she  saw 
that  her  lord  had  his  reasons.  -  So  Mary  and  Robin  were 
left  outside,  quite  as  if  they  were  nothing  to  any  but  them- 
selves, Mary  was  aware  of  all  this  manoeuvring,  and  it 
brought  a  little  frown  upon  her  pretty  forehead,  as  if  she 
were  cast  before  the  feet  of  Robin  Lyth  ;  but  her  gentle- 
ness prevailed,  because  they  meant  her  well.  Under  the 
weeping  ash  there  was  a  little  seat,  and  the  beauty  of  it  was 
that  it  would  not  hold  two  people.  She  sat  down  upon  it, 
and  became  absorbed  in  the  clouds  that  were  busy  with  the 
sunset. 

These  were  very  beautiful,  as  they  so  often  are  in  the 
broken  weather  of  the  autumn  ;  but  sailors  would  rather  see 
fair  sky,  and  Robin's  fair  heaven  was  in  Mary's  eyes.  At 
these  he  gazed  with  a  natural  desire  to  learn  what  the  symp- 


218  MARY   AKERLEY. 

toms  of  the  weather  were  ;  but  it  seemed  as  if  little  could 
be  made  out  there,  because  everything  seemed  so  lofty  ; 
perhaps  Mary  had  forgotten  his  existence. 

Could  any  lad  of  wax  put  up  with  this,  least  of  all  a  dar- 
ing mariner  ?  He  resolved  to  run  the  cargo  of  his  heart 
right  in,  at  the  risk  of  all  breakers  and  drawn  cutlasses  ; 
and  to  make  a  good  beginning  he  came  up  and  took  her 
hand.  The  tanner  in  the  bower  gave  approval  with  a  cough, 
like  Cupid  with  a  sneeze  ;  then  he  turned  it  to  a  snore. 

4<  Mary,  why  do  you  carry  on  like  this  ?"  the  smuggler 
inquired  in  a  very  gentle  voice.  * '  I  have  done  nothing  to 
offend  you,  have  I  ?  That  would  be  the  last  thing  I  would 
ever  do." 

"  Captain  Lyth,  you  are  always  very  good,  you  never 
should  think  such  things  of  me.  I  am  just  looking  at  a 
particular  cloud.  And  whoever  said  that  you  might  call 
me  '  Mary?'  " 

u  Perhaps  the  particular  cloud  said  so  ;  but  you  must 
have  been  the  cloud  yourself  ;  for  you  told  me  only  yester- 
day." 

"  Then  I  will  never  say  another  word  about  it  ;  but  peo- 
ple should  not  take  advantage." 

"  Who  are  people  ?  How  you  talk,  quite  as  if  I  were 
somebody  you  never  saw  before  !  I  should  like  you  just 
to  look  round  now,  and  let  me  see  why  you  are  so  differ- 
ent from  yourself. ' ' 

Mary  Anerley  looked  round  ;  for  she  always  did  what 
people  liked,  without  good  reason  otherwise  ;  and  if  her 
mind  was  full  of  clouds,  her  eyes  had  little  sign  of  them. 

"  You  look  as  lovely  as  you  always  do,"  said  the  smug- 
gler, growing  bolder  as  she  looked  at  something  else. 
'*  You  know  long  ago  what  my  opinion  of  you  is  ;  and 
yet  you  seem  to  take  no  notice.  Now  I  must  be  off,  as 
you  know,  to-night  ;  not  for  any  reason  of  my  own,  as  I 
told  you  yesterday,  but  to  carry  out  a  contract.  I  may  not 
see  you  for  many  months  again  ;  and  you  may  fall  in  love 
with  a  preventive  man." 

"  I  never  fall  in  love  with  anybody.  Why  should  I  go 
from  one  extreme  to  the  other  ?  Captain  Carroway  has 
seven  children,  as  well  as  a  very  active  wife." 


LOYE   MILITAKT.  219 

"  I  am  not  afraid  of  Carroway  in  love  or  in  war.  He  is 
an  honest  fellow,  with  no  more  brains  than  this  ash-tree 
over  us.  I  mean  the  dashing  captains  who  come  in  with 
their  cutters,  and  would  carry  you  off  as  soon  as  look." 

"  Captain  Lyth,  you  are  not  at  all  considering  what  you 
say  ;  those  officers  do  not  want  me — they  want  you." 

"  Then  they  shall  get  neither  ;  they  may  trust  me  for 
that.  But,  Mary,  do  tell  me  how  your  heart  is  ;  you  know 
well  how  mine  has  been  for  ever  such  a  time.  I  tell  you 
downright  that  I  have  thought  of  girls  before — " 

"  Oh,  I  was  not  at  all  aware  of  that ;  surely  you  had  bet- 
ter go  on  with  thinking  of  them." 

"  You  have  not  heard  me  out.  I  have  only  thought  of 
them  ;  nothing  more  than  thinking,  in  a  foolish  sort  of  way. 
But  of  you  I  do  not  think;  I  seem  to  feel  you  all  through 
me." 

"  What  sort  of  a  sensation  do  I  seem  to  be  ?  A  foolish 
one,  I  suppose,  like  all  those  many  others." 

"  No,  not  at  all.  A  very  wise  one  ;  a  regular  knowledge 
that  I  cannot  live  without  you  ;  a  certainty  that  I  could 
only  mope  about  a  little — " 

"  And  not  run  any  more  cargoes  on  the  coast  ?" 

"  Not  a  single  tub,  nor  a  quarter-bale  of  silk  ;  except,  of 
course,  what  is  under  contract  now  ;  and,  if  you  should  tell 
me  that  you  cannot  care  about  me — " 

"  Hush  !  I  am  almost  sure  that  I  hear  footsteps. 
Listen,  just  a  moment." 

"  No,  I  will  not  listen  to  any  one  in  the  world  but  you. 
I  beg  you  not  to  try  to  put  me  off.  Think  of  the  winter, 
and  the  long  time  coming  ;  say  if  you  will  think  of  me.  I 
must  allow  that  I  am  not  like  you  of  a  respectable  old 
family.  The  Lord  alone  knows  where  I  came  from,  or 
where  I  may  go  to.  My  business  is  a  random  and  up-and- 
down  one  ;  but  no  one  can  call  it  disreputable  ;  and  if  you 
went  against  it,  I  would  throw  it  up.  There  arc  plenty  of 
trades  that  I  can  turn  my  hand  to  ;  and  I  will  turn  it  to 
anything  you  please,  if  you  will  only  put  yours  inside  it. 
Mary,  only  let  me  have  your  hand  ;  and  you  need  not  say 
anything  unless  you  like." 

"  But  I  always  do  like  to  say  something,   when  things 


220  MARY   A1STERLEY. 

arc  brought  before  me  so.  I  have ,  to  consider  my  father, 
and  my  mother,  and  others  belonging  to  me.  It  is  not  as 
if  I  were  all  alone,  and  could  do  exactly  as  I  pleased.  My 
father  bears  an  ill-will  toward  free-trade  ;  and  my  mother 
has  made  bad  bargains  when  she  felt  sure  of  very  good 
ones. " 

"  I  know  that  there  are  rogues  about/'  Robin  answered, 
with  a  judicial  frown  ;  "  but  foul  play  never  should  hurt 
fair  play  ;  and  we  haul  them  through  the  water  when  we 
catch  them.  Your  father  is  terribly  particular,  I  know,  and 
that  is  the  worst  thing  there  can  be  ;  but  I  do  not  care  a 
groat  for  all  objections,  Mary  ;  unless  the  objection  begins 
with  you.  I  am  sure  by  your  eyes,  and  your  pretty  lips 
and  forehead,  that  you  are  not  the  one  to  change.  If  once 
any  lucky  fellow  wins  your  heart,  he  will  have  it — unless  he 
is  a  fool — forever.  I  can  do  most  things,  but  not  that  ; 
or  you  never  would  be  thinking  about  the  other  people. 
What  would  anybody  be  to  me  in  comparison  with  you,  if 
I  only  had  the  chance  ?  I  would  kick  them  all  to  Jericho. 
Can  you  see  it  in  that  way  ?  Can  you  get  hot  every  time 
you  think  of  me  ?" 

u  Really,"  said  Mary,  looking  very  gently  at  him,  be- 
cause of  his  serious  excitement,  "  you  are  very  good,  and 
very  brave,  and  have  done  wonders  for  me  ;  but  why 
should  I  get  hot  ?" 

"  No,  I  suppose  it  is  not  to  be  expected.  When  I  am 
in  great  peril,  I  grow  hot,  and  tingle,  and  am  alive  all  over. 
Men  of  a  loftier  courage  grow  cold  ;  it  depends  upon  the 
constitution  ;  but  I  enjoy  it  more  than  they  do,  and  I  can 
see  things  ten  times  quicker.  Oh,  how  I  wish  I  was  Nel- 
son ;  how  he  must  enjoy  himself  !" 

"  But  if  you  have  love  of  continual  danger  and  eagerness 
to  be  always  at  it,"  said  Mary,  with  wide  Yorkshire  sense, 
much  as  she  admired  this  heroic  type,  "  the  proper  thing 
for  you  to  do  is  to  lead  a  single  life.  You  might  be  enjoy- 
ing all  the  danger  very  much  ;  but  what  would  your  wife 
at  home  be  doing  ?  Only  to  knit,  and  sigh,  and  lie 
awake. ' ' 

Mary  made  a  bad  hit  here.  This  picture  was  not  at  all 
deterrent  ;  so  daring  are  young  men,  and  so  selfish. 


LOVE   MILITANT.  221 

'  '  Nothing  of  that  sort  should  ever  come  to  pass, ' '  cried 
Robin,  with  the  gaze  of  the  head  of  a  household  ;  u  sup- 
posing only  that  my  wife  was  you.  I  would  be  home 
regularly  every  night,  before  the  kitchen  clock  struck  eight. 
I  would  always  come  home  with  an  appetite,  and  kiss  you, 
and  do  both  my  feet  upon  the  scraper.  I  would  ask  how 
the  baby  was,  and  carry  him  about,  and  go  '  one,  two, 
three,'  as  the  nurses  do.  I  would  quite  leave  the  govern- 
ment to  put  on  taxes,  and  pay  them — if  I  could — without  a 
word  of  grumble  ;  I  would  keeii  every  rope  about  the  house 
in  order,  as  only  a  sailor  knows  how  to  do,  and  fettle  my 
own  mending,  and  carry  out  my  orders,  and  never  meddle 
with  the  kitchen  ;  at  least  unless  my  opinion  was  sought 
for,  concerning  any  little  thing  that  might  happen  to  be 
meant  for  me.7' 

"  Well,"  exclaimed  Mary,  "  you  quite  take  my  breath 
away  ;  I  had  no  idea  that  you  were  so  clever.  In  return 
for  all  these  wonders,  what  should  poor  I  have  to  do  ?" 

"  Poor  I  would  only  have  to  say  just  once,  '  Robin,  I 
will  have  you,  and  begin  to  try  to  love  you.'  ' 

"  I  am  afraid  that  it  has  been  done  long  ago  ;  and  the 
thing  that  I  ought  to  do  is  to  try  and  help  it. ' ' 

"What  happened  upon  this  it  would  be  needless  to  report, 
and  not  only  needless  but  a  vast  deal  worse — shabby,  inter- 
loping, meddlesorna,  and  mean,  undignified,  unmanly,  and 
disreputably  low  ;  for  even  the  tanner  and  his  wife  (who 
must  have  had  right  to  come  forward,  if  anybody  had)  felt 
that  their  right  was  a  shadow,  and  kept  back,  as  if  they 
were  a  hundred  miles  away,  and  took  one  another  by  the 
hand  and  nodded,  as  much  as  to  say,  u  You  remember  how 
we  did  it  ;  better  than  that,  my  dear.  Here  is  your  good 
health." 

This  being  so,  and  the  time  so  sacred  to  the  higher  emo- 
tions, even  the  boldest  intruder  should  endeavor  to  check 
his  ardor  for  intrusion.  Without  any  inkling  of  preventive 
force,  Robin  and  Mary  having  once  done  away  with  all 
that  stood  between  them,  found  it  very  difficult  to  be  too 
near  together,  because  of  all  the  many  things  that  each 
had  for  to  say.  They  seemed  to  get  into  an  unwise  condi- 
tion of  longing  to  know  matters  that  surely  could  not  mat- 


%%2  MARY   ASTERLEY. 

ter.  When  did  each  of  them  first  feel  sure  of  being  meant 
only  for  the  other  nobler  one  ?  At  first  sight,  of  course, 
and  with  a  perfect  gift  of  seeing  how  much  loftier  each 
was  than  the  other  ;  and  what  an  extraordinary  fact  it  was 
that  in  everything  imaginable  they  were  quite  alike,  except 
in  the  palpable  certainty  possessed  by  each  of  the  betterness 
of  the  other.  What  an  age  it  seemed  since  first  they  met, 
positively  without  thinking,  and  in  the  very  middfe  of  a 
skirmish,  yet  with  a  remarkable  drawing  out  of  perceptions 
one-anotherwaid  !  Did  Mary  feel  this,  when  she  acted  so 
cleverly,  and  led  away  those  vile  pursuers  ;  and  did  Robin, 
when  his  breath  came  back,  discover  why  his  heart  was 
glowing  in  the  rabbit-hole  ?  Questions  of  such  depth  can- 
not be  fathomed  in  a  moment  ;  and  even  to  attempt  to  do 
any  justice  to  them,  heads  must  be  very  long  laid  together. 
Not  only  so,  but  also  it  is  of  prime  necessity  to  make  sure 
that  every  whisper  goes  into  the  proper  ear,  and  abides 
there  only,  and  every  subtlety  of  glance,  and  every  nicety 
of  touch  gets  warm  with  exclusive  reciprocity.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  in  so  sad  a  gladness,  the  faculties  of 
self-preservation  are  weak,  when  they  ought  to  be  most 
active  ;  therefore  it  should  surprise  nobody  (except  those 
who  are  far  above  all  surprise)  to  become  aware  that  every 
word  they  said  and  everything  (even  doubly  sacred)  that 
they  did  was  well  entered  into,  and  thoroughly  enjoyed, 
by  a  liberal  audience  of  family-minded  men,  who  had  been 
through  pretty  scenes  like  this,  and  quietly  enjoyed  dry 
memory. 

Cadman,  Ellis,  and  Dick  Hackerbody  were  in  comfort- 
able places  of  retirement,  just  under  the  combing  of  the 
hedge  ;  all  waiting  for  a  whistle,  yet  at  leisure  to  enjoy  the 
whisper,  the  murmur,  or  even  the  sigh,  of  a  genuine  piece 
of  "  sweethearting. "  Unjust  as  it  may  be,  and  hard,  and 
truly  narrow,  there  does  exist  in  the  human  mind,  or  at 
least  in  the  masculine  half  of  it,  a  strong  conviction  that  a 
man  in  love  is  a  man  in  a  scrape,  in  a  hole,  in  a  pitfall,  in 
a  pitiful  condition,  untrue  for  the  moment  to  the  brother- 
hood of  man,  and  cast  down  among  the  inferior  vessels. 
And  instead  of  being  sorry  for  him,  those  who  are  all 
right  look  down,  and  glory  over  him,  with  very  ancient 


LOVE   MILITANT.  223 

gibes.  So  these  three  men,  instead  of  being  touched  at 
heart  by  soft  confessions,  laid  hard  hands  to  wrinkled 
noses. 

"  Mary,  I  vow  to  you,  as  I  stand  here/'  said  Robin  for 
the  fiftieth  time,  leading  her  nearer  to  the  treacherous 
hedge,  as  he  pressed  her  trembling  hand,  and  gazed  with 
deep  ecstasy  into  her  truthful  eyes,  "  I  will  live  only  to 
deserve  you,  darling.  I  will  give  up  everything  and  every- 
body in  the  world,  and  start  afresh.  I  will  pay  king's 
duty  upon  every  single  tub  ;  and  set  up  in  the  tea  and 
spirit  line,  with  his  majesty's  arms  upon  the  lintel.  I  will 
take  a  large  contract  for  the  royal  navy,  who  never  get  any- 
thing genuine,  and  not  one  of  them  ever  knows  good  from 
bad—" 

"  That's  a  dirty  lie,  sir.  In  the  king's  name,  I  arrest 
you." 

Lieutenant  Carroway  leaped  before  them,  flourishing  a 
long  sword,  and  dancing  with  excitement,  in  this  the 
supreme  moment  of  his  life.  At  the  same  instant,  three 
men  came  bursting  through  the  hedge,  drew  hangers,  and 
waited  for  orders.  Robin  Lyth,  in  the  midst  of  his  love, 
was  so  amazed,  that  he  stood  like  a  boy  under  orders  to  be 
caned. 

"  Surrender,  sir  !  Down  with  your  arms,  you  are  my 
prisoner.  Strike  to  his  majesty.  Hands  to  your  side  ! 
or  I  run  you  through  like  Jack  Robinson  !  Keep  back, 
men.  He  belongs  to  me." 

But  Carroway  counted  his  chicks  too  soon,  or  at  any  rate 
he  overlooked  a  little  chick.  For  while  he  was  making  fine 
passes  (having  learned  the  rudiments  of  swordsmanship  be- 
yond other  British  officers),  and  just  as  he  was  executing  a 
splendid  flourish,  upon  his  bony  breast  lay  Mary.  She 
flung  her  arms  round  him,  so  that  move  he  could  not  with- 
out grievously  tearing  her  ;  and  she  managed,  in  a  very 
wicked  way,  to  throw  the  whole  weight  of  two  bodies  on 
his  wounded  heel.  A  flash  of  pain  shot  up  to  his  very 
sword  ;  and  down  he  went  with  Mary  to  protect  him,  or  at 
any  rate  to  cover  him.  His  three  men,  like  true  Britons, 
stood  in  position,  and  waited  for  their  officer  to  get  up  and 
give  orders. 


224  MARY  ANERLEY. 

These  three  men  showed  such  perfect  discipline,  that 
Kobin  was  invited  to  knock  them  down,  as  if  they  had  sim- 
ply been  three  skittles  in  a  row  ;  he  recovered  his  presence 
of  mind  and  did  it  ;  and  looking  back  at  Mary,  received 
signal  to  be  off.  Perceiving  that  his  brave  love  would  take 
no  harm — for  the  tanner  was  come  forth  blustering  loudly, 
and  Mrs.  Popplewell  with  shrieks  and  screams  enough  to 
prevent  the  whole  preventive  service — the  free-trader  kissed 
his  hand  to  Mary,  and  was  lost  through  the  bushes,  and 
away  into  the  dark. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

LOVE    PENITENT. 

"  I  TELL  you,  Captain  Anerley,  that  she  knocked  me 
down.  Your  daughter  there,  who  looks  as  if  butter  would 
not  melt  in  her  mouth,  knocked  down  Commander  Carro- 
way  of  his  majesty's  coast-guard,  like  a  royal  Bengal  tiger, 
sir.  1  am  not  come  to  complain  ;  such  an  action  I  would 
scorn  ;  and  I  admire  the  young  lady  for  her  spirit,  sir. 
My  sword  was  drawn,  no  man  could  have  come  near  me  ; 
but  before  I  could  think,  sir,  I  was  lying  on  my  back.  Do 
you  call  that  constitutional  ?" 

"  Mary,  lof,  how  ever  could  you  think  it — to  knock 
down  Captain  Carroway  ?" 

"  Father,  I  never  did.  He  went  down  of  himself,  be- 
cause he  was  flourishing  about  so.  I  never  thought  what  I 
was  doing  of  at  all.  And  with  all  my  heart  I  beg  his  par- 
don. What  right  had  you,  sir,  to  come  spying  after  me  ?" 

This  interview  was  not  of  the  common  sort.  Lieutenant 
Carroway,  in  full  uniform,  was  come  to  Anerley  Farm  that 
afternoon  ;  not  for  a  moment  to  complain  of  Mary,  but  to 
do  his  duty,  and  to  put  things  straight  ;  while  Mary  had 
insisted  upon  going  home  at  once  from  the  hospitable  house 
of  Uncle  Popplewell,  who  had  also  insisted  upon  going 
with  her,  and  taking  his  wife  to  help  the  situation. 

A  council  had  been  called  immediately,  with  Mistress 


LOVE   PENITENT.  225 

Anerley  presiding  ;  and  before  it  had  got  beyond  the  crying 
stage,  in  marched  the  brave  lieutenant. 

Stephen  Anerley  was  reserving  his  opinion — which  gen- 
erally means  that  there  is  none  yet  to  reserve — but  in  his 
case  there  would  be  a  great  deal  by  and  by.  Master  Pop- 
plewell  had  made  up  his  mind  and  his  wife's,  long  ago,  and 
confirmed  it  in  the  one-horse  shay,  while  Mary  was  riding 
4 '  Lord  Keppel'  '  in  the  rear  ;  and  the  mind  of  the  tanner 
was  as  tough  as  good  oak-bark.  His  premises  had  been 
intruded  upon — the  property  which  he  had  bought  with  his 
own  money  saved  by  years  of  honest  trade,  his  private  gar- 
den, his  ornamental  bower,  his  wife's  own  pleasure-plot,  at 
a  sacred  moment,  invaded,  trampled,  and  outraged  by  a 
scurvy  preventive-man  and  his  low  crew  !  The  first  thing 
he  had  done  to  the  prostrate  Carroway  was  to  lay  hold  of 
him  by  the  collar,  and  shake  his  fist  at  him  and  demand  his 
warrant — a  magistrate's  warrant,  or  from  the  crown  itself. 
The  poor  lieutenant  having  none  to  show,  "  Then  I  will 
have  the  law  of  you,  sir, ' '  the  tanner  shouted  ;  "  if  it  costs 
me  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  I  am  known  for  a 
man,  sir,  who  sticks  to  his  word  ;  and  my  attorney  is  a 
genuine  bull-dog. ' ' 

This  had  frightened  Carroway  more  than  fifty  broadsides. 
Truly  he  loved  fighting  ;  but  the  boldest  sailor  bears  away, 
at  prospect  of  an  action  at  law.  Popple  well  saw  this,  and 
stuck  to  his  advantage,  and  vowed,  until  bedtime,  satisfac- 
tion he  would  have  ;  and  never  lost  the  sight  of  it,  until  he 
fell  asleep. 

Even  now  it  was  in  his  mind,  as  Carroway  could  see  ;  his 
eyebrows  meant  it,  and  his  very  surly  nod,  and  the  way  in 
which  he  put  his  hands  far  down  into  his  pockets.  The 

foor  lieutenant,  being  well  aware  that  zeal  had  exceeded  duty 
without  the  golden  amnesty  of  success),  and  finding  out 
that  Popplewell  was  rich  and  had  no  children,  did  his  very 
best  to  look  with  real  pleasure  at  him,  and  try  to  raise  a 
loftier  feeling  in  his  breast  than  damages.     But  the  tanner 
only   frowned,    and    squared    his   elbows,    and    stuck    his 
knuckles  sharply  out  of  both  his  breeches'   pockets.     And 
Mrs.    Popplewell,  like   a  fat  and  most  kind-hearted  lady, 
stared  at  the  ofiicer,  as  if  she  longed  to  choke  him. 
15 


226  MARY    ANERLEY. 

' '  I  tell  you  again,  Captain  Anerley, ' '  cried  the  lieuten- 
ant, with  his  temper  kindling,  u  that  no  consideration 
moved  me,  sir,  except  that  of  duty.  As  for  my  spying  after 
any  pretty  girls,  my  wife,  who  is  now  down  with  her  eighth 
baby,  would  get  up  sooner  than  hear  of  it.  If  I  intruded 
upon  your  daughter,  so  as  to  justify  her  in  knocking  me 
down,  Captain  Anerley,  it  was  because — well,  I  won't  say, 
Mary,  I  won't  say  ;  we  have  all  been  young  ;  and  our  place 
is  to  know  better. ' ' 

li  Sir,  you  are  a  gentleman,"  cried  Popplewell  with  heat ; 
u  here  is  my  hand,  and  you  may  trespass  on  my  premises, 
without  bringing  any  attorney. " 

"  Did  you  say  her  eighth  baby  ?  Oh,  Commander  Car- 
roway,"  Mrs.  Popplewell  began  to  whisper  ;  "  what  a  most 
interesting  situation  !  Oh,  I  see  why  you  have  such  high 
color,  sir." 

"  Madam,  it  is  enough  to  make  me  pale.  At  the  same 
time  I  do  like  sympathy  ;  and  my  dear  wife  loves  the 
smell  of  tan." 

i  i  We  have  retired,  sir,  many  years  ago,  and  purchased  a 
property  near  the  seaside  ;  and  from  the  front  gate  you  must 
have  seen — but  oh,  I  forgot,  captain,  you  came  through 
the  hedge,  or  at  any  rate  down  the  row  of  kidney-beans." 

li  I  want  to  know  the  truth,"  shouted  Stephen  Anerley, 
who  had  been  ploughing  through  his  brow  into  his  brain, 
while  he  kept  his  eyes  fixed  upon  his  daughter's,  and  there 
found  abashment,  but  no  abasement  ;  "  naught  have  I  to 
do  with  any  little  goings-on,  or  whether  an  action  was  a 

fentleman's  or  not.     That  question  belongs  to  the  regulars, 
wand,  or  to  the  folk  who  have  retired.     Nobbut  a  farmer 
am  I,  in  little  business  ;  but  concerning  of  my  children  I 
will  have  my  say.     All  of  you  tell  me  what  is  this  about 
my  Mary  ?" 

As  if  he  would  drag  their  thoughts  out  of  them,  he  went 
from  one  to  another  with  a  hard,  quick  glance,  which  they  all 
tried  to  shun  ;  for  they  did  not  want  to  tell  until  he  should 
get  into  a  better  frame  of  mind.  And  they  looked  at  Mis- 
•>  tress  Anerley,  to  come  forth  and  take  his  edge  off  ;  but  she 
knew  that  when  his  eyes  were  so,  to  interfere  was  mischief. 
But  Carroway  did  not  understand  the  man. 


LOVE   PENITENT.  227 

"  Come,  now,  Anerley, "  the  bold  lieutenant  said  ; 
u  what  are  you  getting  into  such  a  way  about?  I  would 
sooner  have  lost  the  hundred  pounds  twice  over,  and  a  hun- 
dred of  my  own — if  so  be  I  ever  had  it — than  get  little 
Mary  into  such  a  row  as  this.  Why,  Lord  bless  my  heart, 
one  would  think  that  there  was  murder  in  a  little  bit  of 
sweethearting  !  All  pretty  girls  do  it  ;  and  the  plain  ones 
too.  Come  and  smoke  a  pipe,  my  good  fellow,  and  don't 
terrify  her. ' ' 

For  Mary  was  sobbing  in  a  corner  by  herself,  without 
even  her  mother  to  come  up  and  say  a  word. 

4  4  My  daughter  never  does  it, ' '  answered  Stephen  Aner- 
ley ;  u  my  daughter  is  not  like  the  foolish  girls  and  women. 
My  daughter  knows  her  mind  ;  and  what  she  does  she 
means  to  do.  Mary,  lof,  come  to  your  father,  and  tell  him 
that  every  one  is  lying  of  you.  Sooner  would  I  trust  a  sin- 
gle quiet  word  of  yours  than  a  pile,  as  big  as  Flambro' 
Head,  sworn  by  all  the  world  together  against  my  little 
Mary." 

The  rest  of  them,  though  much  aggrieved  by  such  a  bit- 
ter calumny,  held  their  peace,  and  let  him  go  with  open 
arms  toward  his  Mary.  The  farmer  smiled,  that  his 
daughter  might  not  have  any  terror  of  his  public  talk  ;  and 
because  he  was  heartily  expecting  her  to  come  and  tell  him 
some  trifle,  and  be  comforted,  and  then  go  for  a  good 
happy  cry,  while  he  shut  off  all  her  enemies. 

But  instead  of  any  nice  work  of  that  nature,  Mary  Aner- 
ley arose  and  looked  at  the  people  in  the  room — which  was 
their  very  best,  and  by  no  means  badly  furnished — and 
after  trying  to  make  out,  as  a  very  trifling  matter,  what 
their  unsettled  minds  might  be,  her  eyes  came  home  to  her 
father's,  and  did  not  flinch,  although  they  were  so  wet. 

Master  Anerley,  once  and  forever,  knew  that  his  daughter 
was  gone  from  him.  That  a  stronger  love  than  one  genera- 
tion can  have  for  the  one  before  it — pure  and  devoted  and 
ennobling  as  that  love  is — now  had  arisen,  and  would  force 
its  way.  He  did  not  think  it  out  like  that,  for  his  mind 
was  not  strictly  analytic — however  his  ideas  were  to  that 
effect  ;  which  is  all  that  need  be  said  about  them. 

"  Every   word   of   it   is    true,"    the   girl    said   gently  ; 


228  MARY   AKERLEY. 

"  father,  I  have  done  every  word  of  what  they  say,  except 
about  knocking  down  Captain  Carroway.  I  have  promised 
to  marry  Robin  Lyth — by  and  by — when  you  agree  to  it." 

Stephen  Anerley's  ruddy  cheeks  grew  pale,  and  his  blue 
eyes  glittered  with  amazement.  He  stared  at  his  daughter 
till  her  gaze  gave  way  ;  and  then  he  turned  to  his  wife,  to 
see  whether  she  had  heard  of  it.  "I  told  you  so, "  was  all 
she  said  ;  and  that  tended  little  to  comfort  him.  But  he 
broke  forth  into  no  passion,  as  he  might  have  done  with 
justice  and  some  benefit  ;  but  turned  back  quietly  and 
looked  at  his  Mary,  as  if  he  were  saying,  once  for  all, 
"good-by." 

u  Oh,  don't,  father,  don't,"  the  girl  answered  with  a 
sob  ;  li  revile  me,  or  beat  me,  or  do  anything  but  that. 
That  is  more  than  I  can  bear." 

"  Have  I  ever  reviled  you  ?     Have  I  ever  beaten  you  ?" 

"  Never,  never  once,  in  all  my  life.  •  But  I  beg  you — I 
implore  of  you  to  do  it  now.  Oh,  father,  perhaps  I  have 
deserved  it." 

"  You  know  best  what  you  deserve.  But  no  bad  word 
shall  you  have  of  me.  Only  you  must  be  careful  for  the 
future  never  to  call  me  *  father. '  ' 

The  farmer  forgot  all  his  visitors,  and  walked,  without 
looking  at  anybody,  toward  the  porch.  Then  that  hospi- 
table spot  reawakened  his  good  manners  ;  and  he  turned 
and  smiled  as  if  he  saw  them  all  sitting  down  to  something 
juicy. 

"  My  good  friends,  make  yourselves  at  home,"  he  said  ; 
"  the  mistress  will  see  to  you,  while  I  look  round.  I  shall 
be  back  directly,  and  we  will  have  an  early  supper." 

But  when  he  got  outside,  and  was  alone  with  earth  and 
sky,  big  tears  arose  into  his  brave  blue  eyes,  and  he  looked 
at  his  ricks,  and  his  workmen  in  the  distance,  and  even  at 
the  favorite  old  horse  that  whinnied  and  came  to  have  his 
white  nose  rubbed,  as  if  none  of  them  belonged  to  him  ever 
any  more.  "  A'  would  sooner  have  heard  of  broken 
bank,"  he  muttered  to  himself  and  to  the  ancient  horse  ; 
"  fifty  times  sooner,  and  begin  the  world  anew  ;  only  to 
have  Mary  for  a  little  child  again." 

As  the  sound  of  his  footsteps  died  away,  the  girl  hurried 


X   AMOKG   THE   DEAD   WEEDS.  229 

out  of  the  room,  as  if  she  were  going  to  run  after  him  ;  but 
suddenly  stopped  in  the  porch,  as  she  saw  that  he  scarcely 
even  cared  to  feel  the  cheek  of  ' '  Lightf  oot, ' '  who  made  a 
point  of  rubbing  up  his  master's  whiskers  with  it.  "  Bet- 
ter wait,  and  let  him  come  round,"  thought  Mary  ;  u  I 
never  did  see  him  so  put  out."  Then  she  ran  up  the 
stairs  to  the  window  on  the  landing,  and  watched  her  dear 
father  grow  dimmer  and  dimmer,  up  the  distance  of  the 
hill,  with  a  bright  young  tear  for  every  sad  old  step. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

DOWN    AMONG    THE    DEAD    WEEDS. 

CAN  it  be  supposed  that  all  this  time  Master  Geoffrey 
Mordacks,  of  the  city  of  York,  land  agent,  surveyor,  and 
general  factor,  and  maker  and  doer  of  everything,  whether 
general  or  particular,  was  spending  his  days  in  doing  noth- 
ing, and  his  nights  in  dreaming  ?  If  so,  he  must  have  had 
a  sunstroke,  on  that  very  bright  day  of  the  year,  when  he 
stirred  up  the  minds  of  the  washerwomen,  and  the  tongue 
of  Widow  Precious.  But  Flamborough  is  not  at  all  the 
place  for  sunstroke,  although  it  reflects  so  much  in  white- 
wash, neither  had  Mordacks  the  head  to  be  sunstruck,  but 
a  hard,  impenetrable,  wiry  poll,  as  weatherproof  as  felt 
asphalted.  At  first  sight  almost  everybody  said  that  he 
must  have  been  a  soldier,  at  the  time  when  soldiers  were 
made  of  iron,  whalebone,  whipcord,  and  ramrods.  Such 
opinions  he  rewarded  with  a  grin,  and  shook  his  straight 
shoulders  straighter.  If  pride  of  any  sort  was  not  beneath 
him,  as  a  matter  of  strict  business,  it  was  the  pride  which 
he  allowed  his  friends  to  take  in  his  military  figure  and 
aspect. 

This  gentleman's  place  of  business  was  scarcely  equal  to 
the  expectations,  which  might  have  been  formed  from  a 
view  of  the  owner.  The  old  King's  Staith,  on  the  right 
hand  after  crossing  Ouse  Bridge  from  the  Micklegate,  is  a 
passage-way  scarcely  to  be  called  a  street,  but  combining  the 
features  of  an  alley,  a  lane,  a  jetty,  a  quay,  and  a  barge-walk, 


230  MARY  AKEKLEY. 

and  ending  ignominiously.  Nevertheless,  it  is  a  lively  place 
sometimes,  and  in  moments  of  excitement.  Also  it  is  a 
good  place  for  business,  and  for  brogue  of  the  broadest  ; 
and  a  man  who  is  unable  to  be  happy  there  must  have  some- 
thing on  his  mind  unusual.  Geoffrey  Mordacks  had  nothing 
on  his  mind  except  other  people's  business  ;  which  (as  in 
the  case  of  Lawyer  Jellicorse)  is  a  very  favorable  state  of 
the  human  constitution  for  happiness. 

But  though  Mr.  Mordacks  attended  so  to  other  people's 
business,  he  would  not  have  anybody  to  attend  to  his.  No 
partner,  no  clerk,  no  pupil  had  a  hand  in  the  inner  breast- 
pockets of  his  business  ;  there  was  nothing  mysterious 
about  his  work,  but  he  liked  to  follow  it  out  alone.  Things 
that  were  honest  and  wise  came  to  him  to  be  carried  out 
with  judgment  ;  and  he  knew  that  the  best  way  to  carry 
them  out  is  to  act  with  discreet  candor.  For  the  slug  shall 
be  traced  by  his  slime  ;  and  the  spider  who  shams  death 
shall  receive  it. 

Now  here,  upon  a  very  sad  November  afternoon,  when 
the  Northern  day  was  narrowing  in,  and  the  Ouse,  which  is 
usually  of  a  ginger  color,  wras  nearly  as  dark  as  a  nutmeg  ; 
and  the  bridge,  and  the  staith,  and  the  houses,  and  the 
people  resembled  one  another  in  tint  and  tone  ;  while  be- 
tween the  Minster  and  the  Clifford  Tower  there  was  not 
much  difference  of  outline  ;  here  and  now  Master  Geoffrey 
Mordacks  was  sitting  in  the  little  room  where  strangers 
were  received.  The  live  part  of  his  household  consisted  of 
his  daughter  and  a  very  young  Geoffrey,  who  did  more 
harm  than  good,  and  a  thoroughly  hard-working  country- 
maid,  whose  slowness  was  gradually  giving  way  to  pressure. 

The  weather  was  enough  to  make  anybody  dull,  and  the 
sap  of  every  human  thing  insipid  ;  and  the  time  of  day  sug- 
gested tea,  hot  cakes,  and  the  crossing  of  comfortable  legs. 
Mordacks  could  well  afford  all  these  good  things,  and  he 
never  was  hard  upon  his  family  ;  but  every  day  he  liked  to 
feel  that  he  had  earned  the  bread  of  it,  and  this  day  he  had 
labored  without  seeming  to  earn  anything.  For  after  all 
the  ordinary  business  of  the  morning,  he  had  been  devot- 
ing several  hours  to  the  diligent  revisal  of  his  premises  and 
data,  in  a  matter  which  he  was  resolved  to  carry  through, 


DOWN   AMONG  THE   DEAD   WEEDS.  231 

both  for  his  credit  and  his  interest.  And  this  was  die  mat- 
ter which  had  cost  him  two  days'  ride,  from  York  to  Flam- 
borough,  and  three  days  on  the  road  home,  as  was  natural 
after  such  a  dinner  as  he  made  in  little  Denmark.  But  all 
that  trouble  he  would  not  have  minded,  especially  after  his 
enjoyment  of  the  place,  if  it  had  only  borne  good  fruit.  He 
had  felt  quite  certain  that  it  must  do  this,  and  that  he 
would  have  to  pay  another  visit  to  the  Head,  and  eat  an- 
other duck,  and  have  a  flirt  with  Widow  Precious. 

But  up  to  the  present  time  nothing  had  come  of  it,  and 
so  far  as  he  could  see  he  might  just  as  well  have  spared 
himself  that  long  rough  ride.  Three  months  had  passed, 
and  that  surely  was  enough  for  even  Flamborough  folk  to 
do  something,  if  they  ever  meant  to  do  it.  It  was  plain 
that  he  had  been  misled  for  once,  that  what  he  suspected 
had  not  come  to  pass,  and  that  he  must  seek  elsewhere  the 
light  which  had  gleamed  upon  him  vainly  from  the  Danish 
town.  To  this  end  he  went  through  all  his  case  again, 
while  hope  (being  very  hard  to  beat  as  usual)  kept  on  ram- 
bling over  everything  unsettled,  with  a  very  sage  conviction 
that  there  must  be  something  there,  and  doubly  sure,  be- 
cause there  was  no  sign  of  it. 

Men  at  the  time  of  life  which  he  had  reached,  conduct- 
ing their  bodies  with  less  suppleness  of  joint,  and  adminis- 
tering food  to  them  with  greater  care,  begin  to  have  doubts 
about  their  intellect  as  well,  whether  it  can  work  as  briskly 
as  it  used  to  do.  And  the  mind  falling  under  this  discour- 
agement of  doubt,  asserts  itself  amiss  in  making  futile 
strokes,  even  as  a  gardener  can  never  work  his  best  while 
conscious  of  suspicious  glances  through  the  window-blinds. 
Geoffrey  Mordacks  told  himself,  that  it  could  not  be  the 
self  it  used  to  be,  in  the  days  when  no  mistakes  were  made, 
but  everything  was  evident  at  half  a  glance,  and  carried  out 
successfully  with  only  half  a  hand.  In  this  Flamborouo'h 
matter  he  had  felt  no  doubt  of  running  triumphantly 
through,  and  being  crowned  with  five  hundred  pounds  in 
one  issue  of  the  case,  and  five  thousand  in  the  other.  But 
lo  !  here  was  nothing.  And  he  must  reply,  by  the  next 
mail,  that  he  had  made  a  sad  mistake. 

Suddenly,  while  he  was  rubbing  his  wiry  head  with  irri- 


232  MARY  ANERLEY. 

tation,  and  poring  over  his  letters  for  some  clue,  like  a  dunce 
going  back  through  his  pot-hooks,  suddenly  a  great  knock 
sounded  through  the  house — one,  two,  three — like  the 
thumping  of  a  mallet  on  a  cask,  to  learn  whether  any  beer 
may  still  be  hoped  for. 

"  This  must  be  a  Flamborough  man,"  cried  Master  Mor- 
dacks,  jumping  up  ;  "  that  is  how  I  heard  them  do  it  ; 
they  knock  the  doors,  instead  of  knocking  at  them.  It 
would  be  a  very  strange  thing  just  now  if  news  were  to 
come  from  Flamborough  ;  but  the  stranger  a  thing  is  the 
more  it  can  be  trusted,  as  often  is  the  case  with  human 
beings.  Whoever  it  is,  show  them  up  at  once, ' '  he  shouted 
down  the  narrow  stairs  ;  for  no  small  noise  was  arising  in 
the  passage. 

"  A'  canna  coom  oop  !  I  wand  a'  canna,"  was  the  an- 
swer in  Kitty's  well-known  brogue  ;  "  how  can  a'  when  a' 
hanna  got  naa  legs  ?" 

"  Oh  ho  !  I  see,"  said  Mr.  Mordacks  to  himself  ;  u  my 
veteran  friend  from  the  watch-tower,  doubtless.  A  man 
with  no  legs  would  not  have  come  so  far  for  nothing.  Show 
the  gentleman  into  the  parlor,  Kitty  ;  and  Miss  Arabella 
may  bring  her  work  up  here. " 

The  general  factor,  though  eager  for  the  news,  knew  bet- 
ter than  to  show  any  haste  about  it  ;  so  he  kept  the  old 
mariner  just  long  enough  in  waiting  to  damp  a  too  covet- 
ous ardor,  and  then  he  complacently  locked  Arabella  in 
her  bedroom,  and  bolted  off  Kitty  in  the  basement  ;  be- 
cause they  both  were  sadly  inquisitive,  and  this  strange  ar- 
rival had  excited  them. 

"  Ah,  mine  ancient  friend  of  the  tower  !  Veteran  Jo- 
seph, if  my  memory  is  right, ' '  Mr.  Mordacks  exclaimed  in 
his  lively  way,  as  he  went  up  and  offered  the  old  tar  both 
hands,  to  seat  him  in  state  upon  the  sofa  ;  but  the  legless 
sailor  condemned  "  them  swabs,"  and  crutched  himself  into 
a  hard-bottomed  chair.  Then  he  pulled  off  his  hat,  and 
wiped  his  white  head  with  a  shred  of  old  flag,  and  began 
hunting  for  his  pipe. 

"  First  time  I  ever  was  in  York  city  ;  and  don't  think 
much  of  it,  if  this  here  is  a  sample." 

u  Joseph,   you  must  not  be  supercilious,"    his  host  re- 


DOWK   AMOKG  THE   BEAD   WEEDS.  233 

plied  with  an  amiable  smile  ;  "  you  will  see  things  better 
through  a  glass  of  grog  ;  and  the  state  of  the  weather 
points  to  something  dark.  You  have  had  a  long  journey, 
and  the  scenery  is  new.  Rum  shall  it  be,  my  friend? 
Your  countenance  says  '  yes. '  Rum,  like  a  ruby  of  the 
finest  water,  have  I  ;  and  no  water  shall  you  have  with  it. 
Said  I  well  ?  A  man  without  legs  must  keep  himself  well 
above  water. " 

"  First  time  I  ever  was  in  York  city,"  the  ancient  watch- 
man answered,  "  and  grog  must  be  done  as  they  does  it 
here.  A  berth  on  them  old  walls  would  suit  me  well  ;  and 
no  need  to  travel  such  a  distance  for  my  beer. ' ? 

"  And  you  would  be  the  man  of  all  the  world  for  such  a 
berth,"  said  Master  Mordacks  gravely,  as  he  poured  the 
sparkling  liquor  into  a  glass  that  was  really  a  tumbler  ;  "  for 
such  a  post  we  want  a  man  who  is  himself  a  post  ;  a  man 
who  will  not  quit  his  duty,  just  because  he  cannot  ;  which 
is  the  only  way  of  making  sure.  Joseph,  your  idea  is  a 
very  good  one,  and  your  beer  could  be  brought  to  you  at 
the  middle  of  each  watch.  I  have  interest  ;  you  shall  be 
appointed. ' ' 

"  Sir,  I  am  obligated  to  you/'  said  the  watchman  ;  "  but 
never  could  I  live  a  month  without  a  wink  of  sea-stuff. 
The  coming  of  the  clouds,  and  the  dipping  of  the  land,  and 
the  waiting  of  the  distance  for  what  may  come  to  be  inside 
of  it  ;  let  alone  how  they  goes  changing  of  their  color,  and 
making  of  a  noise  that  is  always  ,out  of  sight ;  it  is  the  very 
same  as  my  beer  is  to  me.  Master,  I  never  could  get  on 
without  it. ' ' 

"Well,  I  can  understand  a  thing  like  that,"  Mordacks 
answered  graciously  ;  *'  my  water-butt  leaked  for  three 
weeks,  pat,  pat,  all  night  long  upon  a  piece  of  slate,  and 
when  a  man  came  and  calked  it  up,  I  put  all  the  blame 
upon  the  pillow  ;  but  the  pillow  was  as  good  as  ever.  Not 
a  wink  could  I  sleep  till  it  began  to  leak  again  ;  and  you 
may  trust  a  York  workman  that  it  wasn't  very  long.  But, 
Joseph,  I  have  interest  at  Scarborough  also.  The  castle 
needs  a  watchman  for  fear  of  tumbling  down  ;  and  that  is 
not  the  soldiers7  business,  because  they  are  inside.  There 
you  could  have  quantities  of  sea-stuff,  my  good  friend  ;  and 


234  MARY   AKERLEY. 

the  tap  at  the  Hooked  Cod  is  nothing  to  it  there.  Cheer 
up,  Joseph,  we  will  land  you  yet.  How  the  devil  did  you 
manage  now  to  come  so  far  ?" 

'  '  Well  now,  your  honor,  I  had  rare  luck  for  it,  as  I  must 
say  ever  since  I  set  eyes  on  you.  There  comes  a  son  of 
mine  as  I  thought  were  lost  at  sea  ;  but  not  he,  blow  me  ! 
nearly  all  of  him  come  back,  with  a  handful  of  guineas,  and 
the  memory  of  his  father.  Lord  !  I  could  have  cried  ;  and 
he  up  and  blubbered  fairly,  a  trick  as  he  learned  from  ten 
Frenchmen  he  had  killed.  Ah  !  he  have  done  his  work 
well,  and  aimed  a  good  conduck — fourpence  halfpenny  a 
day,  so  long  as  ever  he  shall  live  hereafter." 

"  In  this  world  you  mean,  I  suppose,  my  friend  ;  but  be 
not  overcome,  such  things  will  happen.  But  what  did  you 
do  with  all  that  money,  Joseph  ?"• 

' '  We  never  wasted  none  of  it,  not  half  a  groat,  sir.  We 
finished  out  the  cellar  at  the  Hooked  Cod  first  ;  and  when 
Mother  Precious  made  a  grumble  of  it,  we  gave  her  the 
money  for  to  fill  it  up  again,  upon  the  understanding  to 
come  back  when  it  was  ready  ;  and  then  we  went  to  Bur- 
lington, and  spent  the  rest  in  poshays  like  two  gentlemen  ; 
and  when  we  was  down  upon  our  stumps  at  last,  for  only 
one  leg  there  is  between  us  both,  your  honor,  my  boy  he 
ups  and  makes  a  rummage  in  his  traps  ;  which  the  Lord  he  . 
put  it  into  his  mind  to  do  so,  when  he  were  gone  a  few 
good  sheets  in  the  wind  ;  and  there  sure  enough  he  finds  five 
good  guineas  in  the  tail  of  an  old  hankercher  he  had  clean 
forgotten  ;  and  he  says,  t  Now,  father,  you  take  care  of 
them.  Let  us  go  and  see  the  capital,  and  that  good  gentle- 
man, as  you  have  picked  up  a  bit  of  news  for. '  So  we 
shaped  a  course  for  York,  on  board  the  schooner  Mary 
Anne,  and  from  Goole  in  a  barge  as  far  as  this  here  bridge; 
and  here  we  are,  high  and  dry,  your  honor.  I  was  half  a 
mind  to  bring  in  my  boy  Bob  ;  but  he  saith,  i  Not  without 
the  old  chap  axes  ; '  and  being  such  a  noisy  one  I  took  him 
at  his  word  ;  though  he  hath  found  out  what  there  was  to 
find — not  me." 

"  How  noble  a  thing  is  parental  love  !"  cried  the  general 
factor,  in  his  hard,  short  way,  which  made  many  people 
trust  him,  because  it  was  unpleasant  ;  (i  and  filial  duty  of 


DOWST   AMCWG   THE   DEAD   WEEDS.  235 

unfathomable   grog  !     Worthy  Joseph,    let  your  narrative 
proceed." 

"  They  big  words  is  beyond  me,  sir.  What  use  is  any 
man  to  talk  over  a  chap's  head  ?" 

"  Then  dash  your  eyes,  go  on,  Joe.  Can  you  under- 
stand that,  now  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  can,  and  I  likes  a  thing  put  sensible.  If  the 
gentlemen  would  always  speak  like  that,  there  need  be  no 
difference  'atween  us.  Well,  it  was  all  along  of  all  that 
money-bag  of  Bob's,  that  he  and  I  found  out  anything. 
What  good  were  your  guinea  ?  Who  could  stand  treat  on 
that,  more  than  a  night  or  two,  and  the  right  man  never 
near  you  ?  But  when  you  keep  a  good  shop  open  for  a 
month,  as  Bob  and  me  did  with  Widow  Tapsy,  it  standeth 
to  reason  that  you  must  have  everybody,  to  be  called  at  all 
respectable,  for  miles  and  miles  around.  For  the  first  few 
nights  or  so,  some  on  7em  holds  off — for  an  old  chalk 
against  them,  or  for  doubt  of  what  is  forrard,  or  for  cow- 
ardliness of  their  wives,  or  things  they  may  have  sworn  to 
stop,  or  other  bad  manners.  But  only  go  on  a  little  longer, 
and  let  them  see  that  you  don't  care,  and  send  everybody 
home  a-singing  through  the  lanes  as  merry  as  a  voting  time 
for  parliament,  and  the  outer  ones  begins  to  shake  their 
heads,  and  to  say  that  they  are  bound  to  go,  and  stop  the 
racket'  of  it.  And  so  you  get  them  all,  your  honor,  saints 
as  well  as  sinners  ;  if  you  only  keeps  the  tap  turned  long 
enough. ' ' 

"  Your  reasoning  is  ingenious,  Joseph,  and  shows  a  deep 
knowledge  of  human  nature.  But  who  was  this  tardy  saint 
that  came  at  last  for  grog  ?" 

"  Your  honor,  he  were  as  big  a  sinner  as  ever  you  clap 
eyes  on.  Me  and  my  son  was  among  the  sawdust,  spite 
of  our  three  crutches,  and  he  spreading  hands  at  us,  sober 
as  a  judge,  for  lumps  of  ungenerous  iniquity.  Mother 
Tapsy  told  us  of  it,  the  very  next  day,  for  it  was  not  in  our 
power  to  be  ackirate  when  he  done  it,  and  we  see  every- 
body laffing  at  us  round  the  corner.  But  we  took  the  wind 
out  of  his  sails  the  next  night,  captain,  you  may  warrant 
us.  Here's  to  your  good  health,  sir,  afore  I  beats  to 
win'ard." 


236  MARY   ANERLEY. 

"  Why,  Joseph,  you  seem  to  be  making  up  lost  way  for 
years  of  taciturnity  in  the  tower.  They  say  there  is  a  bal- 
ance in  all  things. " 

"  We  had  the  balance  of  him  next  night,  and  no  mis- 
take, your  honor.  He  was  one  of  them  long-shore  beggars 
as  turns  up  here,  there,  and  everywhere,  galley-raking,  like 
a  stinking  ray-fish  when  the  tide  goes  out  ;  thundering 
scoundrels  that  make  a  living  of  it,  pushing  out  for  roguery 
with  their  legs  tucked  up  ;  no  courage  for  smuggling,  nor 
honest  enough,  they  goes  on  anyhow  with  their  children 
paid  for.  We  found  out  what  he  were,  and  made  us  more 
ashamed,  for  such  a  sneaking  rat  to  preach  upon  us,  like  a 
regular  hordinated  chaplain,  as  might  say  a  word  or  two 
and  mean  no  harm,  with  the  license  of  the  Lord  to  do  it. 
So  my  son  Bob  and  me  called  a  court-martial  in  the  old 
tower,  so  soon  as  we  come  round  ;  and  we  had  a  red  her- 
ring, because  we  was  thirsty,  and  we  chawed  a  bit  of  pig- 
tail to  keep  it  down.  At  first  we  was  glum  ;  but  we  got 
our  peckers  up,  as  a  family  is  bound  to  do  when  they 
comes  together.  My  son  Bob  was  a  sharp  lad  in  his  time, 
and  could  read  in  Holy  Scripter,  afore  he  chewed  a  quid  ; 
and  I  see'd  a  good  deal  of  it  in  his  mind  now,  remembering 
of  King  Solomon.  *  Dad,'  he  says,  t  fetch  out  that  bottle 
as  was  left  of  French  white  brandy  ;  and  rouse  up  a  bit  of 
fire  in  the  old  port-hole.  WTe  ain't  got  many  toes  to  warm 
between  us  ' — only  five,  you  see,  your  worship — '  but, '  says 
he,  i  we'll  warm  up  the  currents  where  they  used  to  be.' 

1 '  According  to  what  my  son  said,  I  done  ;  for  he  leadeth 
me  now,  being  younger  of  the  two,  and  still  using  half  of  a 
shoemaker.  However,  I  says  to  him,  l  Warm  yourself,  it 
don't  lay  in  my  power  to  do  that  for  you.'  He  never  said 
nothing  ;  for  he  taketh  after  me,  in  tongue  and  other  lik- 
ings ;  but  he  up  with  the  kettle  on  the  fire,  and  put  in 
about  a  fathom  and  a  half  of  pig-tail.  '  So  ?  '  says  I  ;  and 
he  says,  '  So  !'  and  we  both  of  us  began  to  laugh,  as  long 
and  as  gentle  as  a  pair  of  cockles,  with  their  tongues  inside 
their  shells. 

"  Well,  your  honor  understands  ;  I  never  spake  so  much 
before  since  ever  I  pass  my  coorting-time.  We  boiled 
down  the  pig-tail  to  a  pint  of  tidy  soup,  and  strained  it  as 


DOWN   AMONG   THE   DEAD   WEEDS.  237 

bright  as  sturgeon  juice  ;  then  we  got  a  bottle  with  l  Navy 
Supply  '  on  a  bull's-eye  in  the  belly  of  it  ;  and  we  filled  it 
with  the  French  white  brandy,  and  the  pig-tail  soup,  and  a 
noggin  of  molasses,  and  shook  it  all  up  well  together  ; 
and  a  better  contract-rum,  your  honor,  never  come  into  high 
admiral's  stores.'' 

"  But,  Joseph,  good  Joseph,"  cried  Mr.  Mordacks  ;  "  do 
forge  ahead  a  little  faster.  Your  private  feelings,  and  the 
manufacture  of  them  arc  highly  interesting  to  you  ;  but  I 
only  want  to  know  what  came  of  it. ' ' 

44  Your  honor  is  like  a  child  hearing  of  a  story  ;  you 
wants  the  end  first,  and  the  middle  of  it  after  ;  but  I  bowls 
along  with  a  hitch  and  a  squirt,  from  habit  of  fo' castle  ; 
and  the  more  you  crosses  hawse,  the  wider  I  shall  head 
about,  or  down  helm,  and  bear  off  mayhap.  I  can  hear  my 
Bob  a-singing  :  what  a  voice  he  hath  !  They  tell  me  it 
cometh  from  the  timber  of  his  leg  ;  the  same  as  a  old  Cre- 
mony.  He  tuned  up  a  many  times  in  yonder  old  barge, 
and  shook  the  brown  water,  like  a  frigate's  wake.  He 
would  just  make  our  fortin  in  the  Minister,  they  said,  with 
Black-eyed  Susan  and  Tom  Bowline." 

44  Truly,  he  has  a  magnificent  voice  ;  what  power,  what 
compass,  what  a  rich  clear  tone  !  In  spite  of  the  fog  I  will 
have  the  window  up." 

Geoffrey  Mordacks  loved  good  singing,  the  grandest  of 
all  melody,  and  impatient  as  he  was,  he  forgot  all  hurry  ; 
while  the  river,  and  the  buildings,  and  the  arches  of  the 
bridge,  were  ringing,  and  echoing,  and  sweetly  embosom- 
ing the  mellow  delivery  of  the  one-legged  tar.  And  old 
Joe  was  highly  pleased,  although  he  would  not  show  it,  at 
such  an  effect  upon  a  man  so  hard  and  dry. 

"  Now,  your  honor,  it  is  over-bad  of  you,"  he  contin- 
ued, with  a  softening  grin  ;  44  to  hasten  me  so,  and  then  to 
hear  me  out  o'  window,  because  Bob  hath  a  sweeter  pipe. 
Ah,  he  can  whistle  like  a  blackbird,  too,  and  gain  a  lot  of 
money  ;  but  there,  what  good  ?  He  sacrifices  it  all  to  the 
honor  of  his  heart,  first  maggot  that  cometh  into  it  ;  and 
he  done  the  very  same  with  Rickon  Goold,  the  Methody 
galley-raker.  We  never  was  so  softy  when  I  were  afloat. 
But  your  honor  shall  hear,  and  give  judgment  for  yourself. 


238  MARY   AHERLEY. 

"  Mother  Precious  was  ready  in  her  mind  to  run  out  a 
double -shotted  gun  at  Rickon,  who  liveth  down  upon  the 
rabbit-warren,  to  the  other  side  of  Bempton,  because  he 
scarcely  ever  doth  come  nigh  her  ;  and  when  he  do  come, 
he  putteth  up  both  hands,  to  bless  her  for  hospitality,  but 
neither  of  them  into  his  breeches-pocket.  And  being  a 
lone  woman,  she  doth  feel  it.  Bob  and  me  gave  her  sail- 
ing-orders— 'twould  amaze  you,  captain  ;  all  was  carried 
out  as  ship-shape  as  the  battle  of  the  Nile.  There  was 
Rickon  Goold  at  anchor,  with  a  spring  upon  his  cable,  hav- 
ing been  converted  ;  and  he  up  and  hailed  that  he  would 
slip,  at  the  very  first  bad  word  we  used.  My  son  hath  such 
knowledge  of  good  words,  that  he  answered,  '  Amen,  so  be 
it.' 

"  Well,  your  honor,  we  goes  on  decorous,  as  our  old 
quartermaster  used  to  give  the  word  ;  and  we  tried  him 
first  with  the  usual  tipple,  and  several  other  hands  dropped 
in.  But  my  son  and  me  never  took  a  blessed  drop,  except 
from  a  gin-bottle  full  of  cold  water,  till  we  see  all  the  others 
with  their  scuppers  well  awash.  Then  Bob  he  findeth 
fault — Lor'  how  beautiful  he  done  it  ! — with  the  scantling 
of  the  stuff  ;  and  he  shouteth  out,  *  Mother,  I'm  blest  if  I 
won't  stand  that  old  guinea  bottle  of  best  Jamaica,  the  one 
as  you  put  by,  with  the  cobwebs  on  it,  for  Lord  Admiral. 
No  Lord  Admiral  won't  come  now.  Just  you  send  away, 
and  hoist  it  up.' 

"  Rickon  Goold  pricked  up  his  ugly  ears  at  this  ;  and 
Mother  Tapsy  did  it  bootiful.  And  to  cut  a  long  yarn 
short,  we  spliced  him,  captain,  with  never  a  thought  of 
what  would  come  of  it  ;  only  to  have  our  revenge,  your 
honor.  He  showed  himself  that  greedy  of  our  patent  rum, 
that  he  never  let  the  bottle  out  of  his  own  elbow,  and  the 
more  he  stowed  away  the  more  his  derrick-chains  was  creak- 
ing ;  but  if  anybody  reasoned,  there  he  stood  upon  his 
rights,  and  defied  every  way  of  seeing  different  ;  until  we 
was  compelled  to  take  and  spread  him  down,  in  the  little 
room  with  sea-weeds  over  it. 

4<  With  all  this,  Bob  and  me  was  as  sober  as  two  judges, 
though  your  honor  would  hardly  believe  it  perhaps  ;  but  we 
left  him  in  the  dark,  to  come  round  upon  the  weeds  ;  as  a 


DOWN   AMONG   THE   DEAD   WEEDS.  239 

galley-raker  ought  to  do.  And  now  we  began  to  have  a  lit- 
tle drop  ourselves,  after  towing  the  prize  into  port,  and  re- 
covering the  honor  of  the  British  navy  ;  and  we  stood  all 
round  to  every  quarter  of  the  compass,  with  the  bottom  of 
the  locker  still  not  come  to  shallow  soundings.  But  sud- 
den our  harmony  was  spoiled  by  a  scream,  like  a  whistle  from 
the  very  bottom  of  the  sea. 

'*  We  all  of  us  jumped  up,  as  if  a  gun  had  broke  its  lash- 
ings ;  and  the  last  day  of  judgment  was  the  thoughts  of 
many  bodies  ;  but  Bob  he  down  at  once  with  his  button- 
stump  gun-metal,  and  takes  the  command  of  the  whole  of 
us.  'Bear  a  hand,  all  on  you/  he  saith  quite  steadfast  ; 
4  Rickon  Goold  is  preaching  to  his  own  text  to-night. '  And 
so  'a  was,  sure  enough  ;  so  'a  was,  your  honor. 

44  We  thought  he  must  have  died,  although  he  managed 
to  claw  off  of  it,  with  confessing  of  his  wickedness,  and 
striking  to  his  Maker.  All  of  us  was  frightened  so,  there 
was  no  laugh  among  us,  till  we  come  to  talk  over  it  after- 
ward. There  the  thundering  rascal  lay  in  the  middle  of 
that  there  mangerie  of  sea-stuff,  as  Mother  Precious  is  so 
proud  of,  that  the  village  calleth  it  the  4  Widow's  Weeds.' 
Blest  if  he  didn't  think  that  he  were  a-lying  at  the  bottom 
of  the  sea,  among  the  stars  and  cuttles,  waiting  for  the  day 
of  judgment. 

4  4  4  Oh,  Captain  McNabbins,  and  Mate  Govery, '  he  cries, 
*  the  hand  of  the  Lord  hath  sent  me  down  to  keep  you  com- 
pany down  here.  I  never  would 'a  done  it,  captain,  hard  as 
you  was  on  me,  if  only  I  had  knowed  how  dark,  and  cold, 
and  shivery  it  would  be  down  here.  I  cut  the  big  bunk  out ; 
I'll  not  lie  ;  no  lies  is  any  good  down  here,  with  the  fingers 
of  the  deep  things  pointing  to  me,  and  the  black  devil's 
wings  coming  over  me — but  a  score  of  years  agone  it  were, 
and  never  no  one  dreamed  of  it — oh,  pull  away,  pull,  for 
God's  sake  pull — the  wet  woman,  and  the  three  innocent 
babbies,  crawling  over  me,  like  congers  !  ' 

44  This  was  the  shadows  of  our  legs,  your  honor,  from 
good  Mother  Tapsy's  candle  ;  for  she  was  in  a  dreadful 
way,  by  this  time,  about  her  reputation  and  her  weeds,  and 
come  down  with  her  tongue  upon  the  lot  of  us.  4  Enter  all 
them  names  upon  the  log, '  says  I  to  Bob,  for  he  writeth 


240  MARY   ANERLEY. 

like  a  scholar.  But  Bob  says,  i  Hold  hard,  dad  ;  now  or 
never. '  And  with  that,  down  he  goeth  on  the  deck  him- 
self, and  wriggleth  np  to  Rickon  through  the  weeds,  with  a 
hiss  like  a  great  sea-snake,  and  grippeth  him.  '  Name  of 
ship,  you  sinner  !  '  cried  Bob  in  his  deep  voice,  like  Old 
Nick  a-hailing  from  a  sepulchre.  '  Golconda,  of  Calcutta, ' 
says  the  fellow,  with  a  groan  as  seemed  to  come  out  of  the 
whites  of  his  eyes  ;  and  down  goes  his  head  again,  enough 
to  split  a  cathead.  And  that  was  the  last  of  him  we  heard 
that  night. 

"  Well,  now,  captain,  you  scarcely  would  believe  ;  but 
although  my  nob  is  so  much  older  of  the  pair,  and  white 
where  his  is  as  black  as  any  coal,  Bob's  it  was  as  first 
throwed  the  painter  up,  for  a-hitching  of  this  drifty  to  the 
starn  of  your  consarns.  And  it  never  come  across  him,  till 
the  locker  was  run  out,  and  the  two  of  us  pulling  longer 
faces  than  our  legs  is.  Then  Bob,  by  the  mercy  of  the 
Lord,  like  Peter,  found  them  guineas  in  the  corner  of  his 
swab — some  puts  it  round  their  necks,  and  some  up  their 
noses  ;  I  never  heard  of  such  a  thing  till  chaps  run  soft  and 
watery — and  so  we  come  to  this  here  place  to  change  the 
air,  and  the  breeding,  and  spin  this  yarn  to  your  honor's 
honor,  as  hath  a  liberal  twist  in  it  ;  and  then  to  take  orders, 
and  draw  rations,  and  any  rears  of  pay  fallen  due,  after  all 
dibs  gone  in  your  service  ;  and  for  Bob  to  tip  a  stave  in 
the  Minister. " 

i  You  have  done  wisely  and  well  in  coming  here,"  said 
Mr.  Mordacks  cheerfully  ;  "  but  we  must  have  further  par- 
ticulars, my  friend.  You  seem  to  have  hit  upon  the  clue  I 
wanted,  but  it  must  be  followed  very  cautiously.  You 
know  where  to  lay  your  hand  upon  this  villain  ?  You  have 
had  the  sense  not  to  scare  him  off  ?" 

"  Sarten,  your  honor.  I  could  clap  the  irons  on  him, 
any  hour  you  gives  that  signal. ' ' 

"  Capital  !  take  your  son  to  see  the  sights  ;  and  both  of 
you  come  to  me  at  ten  to-morrow  morning.  Stop,  you  may 
as  well  take  this  half-guinea.  But  when  you  get  drunk, 
drink  inwards.'7 


OF   SOLID   TIMBER.  241 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

MEN    OF    SOLID    TIMBER. 

MR.  MORDACKS  was  one  of  those  vivacious  men,  who 
have  strong  faith  in  their  good  luck,  and  yet  attribute  to 
their  merits  whatever  turns  out  well.  In  the  present  matter 
he  had  done  as  yet  nothing  at  all  ingenious,  or  even  to  be 
called  sagacious.  The  discovery  of  ;<  Monument  Joe,"  or 
"  Peg-leg  Joe,"  as  he  was  called  at  Flamborough,  was  not 
the  result  of  any  skill  whatever,  either  his  own  or  the 
factor's,  but  a  piece  of  as  pure  luck  as  could  be.  For  all 
that,  however,  Mr.  Mordacks  intended  to  have  the  whole 
credit  as  his  sole  and  righteous  due. 

"  Whenever  I  am  at  all  down-hearted,  samples  of  my 
skill  turn  up,  '  '  he  said  to  himself  as  soon  as  Joe  was  gone  ; 
"  and  happy  results  come  home,  on  purpose  to  rebuke  my 
diffidence.  Would  any  other  man  have  got  so  far  as  I 
have  got,  by  simple,  straightforward,  yet  truly  skilful 
action,  without  a  suspicion  being  started  ?  Old  Jellicorse 
lies  on  his  bed  of  roses,  snoring  folios  of  long  words,  with- 
out a  dream  of  the  gathering  cloud.  Those  insolent  ladies 
are  revelling  in  the  land  from  which  they  have  ousted  their 
only  brother  ;  they  are  granting  leases  not  worth  a  straw  ; 
they  are  riding  the  high  horse,  they  are  bringing  up  that 
cub  (who  set  the  big  dog  at  me)  in  every  wanton  luxury. 
But  wait  a  bit,  wait  a  bit,  my  ladies  ;  as  sure  as  I  live  I 
shall  have  you. 

"  In  the  first  place,  it  is  clear  that  my  conclusion  was 
correct  concerning  that  poor  '  Golconda  ;'  and  why  not  also 
in  the  other  issue  ?  The  Indiaman  was  scuttled  —  I  had 
never  thought  of  that,  but  only  of  a  wreck.  It  comes  to  the 
same  thing  ;  only  she  went  down  more  quietly  ;  and  that 
explains  a  lot  of  things.  She  was  bound  for  Leith,  with  the 
boy  to  be  delivered  into  the  hands  of  his  Scotch  relatives. 
She  was  spoken  last  off  Yarmouth  Roads,  all  well,  and 
under  easy  sail.  Very  good  so  far.  I  have  solved  her  fate, 
which  for  twenty  years  has  been  a  mystery.  We  shall  have 
all  particulars  in  proper  time,  by  steering  on  one  side  of  the 
16 


242  MAKY  ANERLEY. 

law,  which  always  huddles  up  everything.  A  keen  eye 
must  be  kept  upon  that  scoundrel  ;  but  he  must  never 
dream  that  he  is  watched  at  all  ;  he  has  committed  a  capi- 
tal offence.  But  as  yet  there  is  nothing,  but  his  own  rav- 
ing, to  prove  that  hideous  story.  The  truth  must  be  got  at 
by  gentle  means.  I  must  not  claim  the  500/.  as  yet  ;  but 
I  am  sure  of  getting  it.  And  I  have  excellent  hopes  of  the 
5000Z." 

Geoffrey  Mordacks  never  took  three  nights  to  sleep  upon 
his  thoughts  (as  the  lawyer  of  Middleton  loved  to  do),  but 
rather  was  apt  to  overdrive  his  purport,  with  the  goad  of 
hasty  action.  But  now  he  was  quite  resolved  to  be  most 
careful  ;  for  the  high  hand  would  never  do  in  such  a  tick- 
lish matter  ;  and  the  fewer  the  hands  introduced  at  all  into 
it,  the  better  the  chance  of  coming  out  clear  and  clean. 
The  general  factor  had  never  done  anything,  which,  in  his 
opinion,  was  not  thoroughly  upright  ;  and  now,  with  his 
reputation  made,  and  his  conscience  stiffened  to  the  shape 
of  it,  even  a  large  sum  of  money  must  be  clean,  and  cleanly 
got  at,  to  make  it  pay  for  handling. 

This  made  him  counsel  with  himself  just  now.  For  he 
was  a  superior  man  upon  the  whole,  and  particular  always  in 
feeling  sure  that  the  right  word  in  anything  would  be  upon 
his  side.  Not  that  he  cared  a  groat  for  anybody's  gossip  ; 
only  that  he  kept  a  lofty  tenor  of  good  opinion.  And  sail- 
ors who  made  other  sailors  tipsy,  and  went  rolling  about 
on  the  floor  all  together,  whether  with  natural  legs  or  artifi- 
cial, would  do  no  credit  to  his  stairs  of  office,  on  a  fine 
market-day  in  the  morning.  On  the  other  hand,  while 
memory  held  sway,  no  instance  could  be  cited  of  two  jolly 
sailors  coming  to  see  the  wonders  of  this  venerable  town, 
and  failing  to  be  wholly  intoxicated  with  them  before  the 
minster-bell  struck  one. 

This  was  to  be  avoided,  or  rather  forestalled  ;  as  a  thing 
inevitable  should  be.  Even  in  York  city,  teeming  as  it  is 
with  most  delightful  queerities,  the  approach  of  two  sailors 
with  three  wooden  legs  might  be  anticipated  at  a  distant 
offing  ;  so  abundant  are  boys,  there,  and  everywhere. 
Therefore  it  was  well  provided,  on  the  part  of  Master  Mor- 
dacks, that  Kitty,  or  Koity,  the  maid  of  all  work,  a  damsel 


OF  SOLID  TIMBER.  243 

of  muscular  power  and  hard  wit,  should  hold  tryst  with 
these  mariners  in  the  time  of  early  bucket,  and  appoint  a 
little  meeting  with  her  master  by  and  by.  This  she  did 
cleverly,  and  they  were  not  put  out  ;  because  they  were  to 
dine  at  his  expense  at  a  snug  little  chop-house  in  Parlia- 
ment Street,  and  there  to  remain  until  he  came  to  pay  the 
score. 

All  this  happened  to  the  utmost  of  desires  ;  and  before 
they  had  time  to  get  thick-witted,  Mordacks  stood  before 
them.  His  sharp  eyes  took  in  sailor  Bob  before  the  poor 
fellow  looked  twice  at  him  ;  and  the  general  factor  saw  that 
he  might  be  trusted  not  to  think  too  much  for  himself. 
This  was  quite  as  Mr.  Mordacks  hoped  ;  he  wanted  a  man 
who  could  hold  his  tongue,  and  do  what  he  was  told  to  do. 

After  a  few  words  about  their  dinner,  and  how  they  got 
on,  and  so  forth,  the  principal  came  to  the  point  by  saying, 
"  Now  both  of  you  must  start  to-morrow  morning  ;  such 
clever  fellows  cannot  be  spared  to  go  to  sleep.  You  shall 
come  and  see  York  again,  with  free  billet,  and  lashings  of 
money  in  your  pockets,  as  soon  as  you  have  carried  out  your 
sailing  orders.  To-night  you  may  jollify  ;  but  after  that 
you  are  under  strict  discipline,  for  a  month  at  least.  What 
do  you  say  to  that,  my  men  ?" 

Watchman  Joe  looked  rather  glum  ;  he  had  hoped  for  a 
fortnight  of  stumping  about,  with  a  tail  of  admiring  boys 
after  him,  and  of  hailing  every  public-house  the  cut  of 
whose  jib  was  inviting  ;  however,  he  put  his  knife  into  his 
mouth,  with  a  bit  of  fat,  saved  for  a  soft  adieu  to  dinner, 
and  nodded  for  his  son  to  launch  true  wisdom  into  the  vasty 
deep  of  words. 

Now  Bob,  the  sqn  of  Joe,  had  striven  to  keep  himself  up 
to  the  paternal  mark.  He  cited  his  father  as  the  miracle  of 
the  age,  when  he  was  a  long  way  off  ;  and  when  he  was 
nigh  at  hand,  he  showed  his  sense  of  duty,  nearly  always, 
by  letting  him  get  tipsy  first.  Still  they  were  very  sober 
fellows  in  the  main,  and  most  respectable  when  they  had 
no  money. 

"  Sir,"  began  Bob,  after  jerking  up  his  chin,  as  a  sailor 
always  does  when  he  begins  to  think  (perhaps  for  heredi- 
tary counsel  with  the  sky)  ;  "  my  father  and  I  have 


244  MARY   Al^ERLEY. 

been  hauling  of  it  over,  to  do  whatever  is  laid  down  by 
duty,  without  going  any  way  again'  ourselves.  And  this  is 
the  sense  we  be  come  to,  that  we  should  like  to  have  some- 
thing handsome  down,  to  lay  by  again'  chances  ;  also  a 
dokkyment  in  black  and  white,  to  bear  us  harmless  of  the 
law,  and  enter  the  prize-money." 

"  What  a  fine  councillor  a'  would  have  made  !"  old  Joe 
exclaimed,  with  ecstasy.  • 4 1  He  hath  been  round  the  world 
three  times — excuseth  of  him,  for  only  one  leg  left." 

"  My  friend,  how  you  condemn  yourself  !  You  have  not 
been  round  the  world  at  all,  and  yet  you  have  no  leg  at 
all  ;"  so  spake  Mr.  Mordacks,  wishing  to  confuse  ideas  ; 
for  the  speech  of  Bob  misliked  him. 

"  The  corners  of  the  body  is  the  Lord's  good- will,"  old 
Joe  answered,  with  his  feelings  hurt  ;  u  he  calleth  home  a 
piece  to  let  the  rest  bide  on,  and  giveth  longer  time  to  it — 
so  saith  King  David. ' ' 

"  It  may  be  so  ;  but  I  forget  the  passage.  Now  what 
has  your  son  Bob  to  say  ?" 

Bob  was  a  sailor  of  the  fine  old  British  type,  still  to  be 
found  even  nowadays,  and  fit  to  survive  forever.  Broad 
and  resolute  of  aspect,  set  with  prejudice  as  stiff  as  his  own 
pig-tail,  truthful  when  let  alone,  yet  joyful  in  a  lie,  if  any- 
body doubted  him,  peaceable  in  little  things  through  plenty 
of  fight  in  great  ones,  gentle  with  women  and  children,  and 
generous  with  mankind  in  general,  expecting  to  be  cheated, 
yet  not  duly  resigned  at  being  so,  and  subject  to  unaccount- 
able extremes  of  laziness  and  diligence.  His  simple  mind 
was  now  confused,  by  the  general  factor's  appeal  to  him  to 
pronounce  his  opinion  ;  when  he  had  just  now  pronounced 
it,  after  great  exertion. 

"  Sir,"  he  said,  "  I  leave  such  things  to  father's  opin- 
ion ;  he  hath  been  ashore  some  years  ;  and  I  almost  forget 
how  the  land  lays." 

"  Seafaring  Robert,  you  are  well  advised.  A  man  may 
go  round  the  world  till  he  has  no  limbs  left,  yet  never  over- 
take his  father.  So  the  matter  is  left  to  my  decision. 
Very  good  ;  you  shall  have  no  reason  to  repent  it.  To- 
night you  have  liberty  to  splice  the  mainbrace,  or  whatever 
your  expression  is  for  getting  jolly  drunk  ;  in  the  morning 


MEN   OF   SOLID   TIMBER.  245 

you  will  be  sobriety  itself,  sad,  and  wise,  and  aching.  But 
hear  my  proposal,  before  you  take  a  gloomy  view  of  things, 
such  as  to-morrow 's  shades  may  bring.  You  have  been  of 
service  to  me,  and  I  have  paid  you  with  great  generosity; 
but  what  I  have  done,  including  dinner,  is  dust  in  the  bal- 
ance to  what  I  shall  do,  provided  only  that  you  act  with 
judgment,  discipline,  and  self-denial,  never  being  tipsy 
more  than  once  a  week,  which  is  fair  naval  average,  and 
doing  it  then  with  only  one  another.  Hard  it  may  be  ;  but 
it  must  be  so.  Now,  before  I  go  any  further,  let  me  ask, 
whether  you,  Joseph,  as  a  watchman  under  government, 
have  lost  your  position,  by  having  left  it  for  two  months 
upon  a  private  spree  ?" 

"  Lor,  no,  your  honor  !  Sure  you  must  know  more  than 
that.  I  gived  a  old  'ooman  elevenpence  a  week,  and  a  pot 
of  beer  a  Sunday,  to  carry  out  the  dooties  of  the  govern- 
ment." 

"  You  farmed  out  your  appointment,  at  a  lower  figure. 
My  opinion  of  your  powers  and  discretion  is  enhanced  ;  you 
will  return  to  your  post,  with  redoubled  ardor,  and  vigor 
renewed  by  recreation  ;  you  will  be  twice  the  man  you  were, 
and  certainly  ought  to  get  double  pay.  I  have  interest  ;  I 
may  be  enabled  to  double  your  salary — if  you  go  on  well." 

This  made  both  of  them  look  exceeding  downcast,  and 
chew  the  bitter  quid  of  disappointment.  They  had  laid 
their  heads  together  over  glass  number  one,  and  resolved 
upon  asking  for  a  guinea  every  'week  ;  over  glass  number 
two  they  had  made  up  their  minds  upon  getting  two 
guineas  weekly  ;  and  glass  number  three  had  convinced 
them  that  they  must  be  poor  fools  to  accept  less  than  three. 
Also  they  felt  that  the  guineas  they  had  spent,  in  drinking 
their  way  up  to  a  great  discovery,  should  without  hesitation 
be  made  good  ere  ever  they  had  another  pint  of  health. 
In  this  catastrophe  of  large  ideas,  the  father  gazed  sadly  at 
the  son,  and  the  son  reproachfully  reflected  the  paternal 
gaze.  How  little  availed  it  to  have  come  up  here,  wearily 
going  on  upon  yellow  waters,  in  a  barge  where  the  fleas 
could  man  the  helm,  without  aid  of  the  stouter  insect,  and 
where  a  fresh  run  sailor  was  in  more  demand  than  salmon  ; 
.and  even  without  that  (which  had  largely  enhanced  the  in- 


246  MARY   ANERLEY. 

estimable  benefit  of  having  wooden  legs),  this  pair  of  tars 
had  got  into  a  state  of  mind  to  return  the  whole  way  upon 
horseback.  No  spurs  could  they  wear,  and  no  stirrups  could 
they  want,  and  to  get  up  would  be  difficult  ;  but  what  is  the 
use  of  living,  except  to  conquer  difficulties  ?  They  rejoiced 
all  the  more  in  the  four  legs  of  a  horse,  by  reason  of  the 
paucity  of  their  own  ;  which  approves  a  liberal  mind.  But 
now,  where  was  the  horse  to  come  from,  or  the  money  to 
make  him  go  ? 

"  You  look  sad, "  proceeded  Mr.  Mordacks.  "  It  grieves 
me  when  any  good  man  looks  sad  •  and  doubly  so  when  a 
race  of  them  do  it.  Explain  your  feelings,  Joe  and  Bob  ; 
if  it  lies  in  a  human  being  to  relieve  them,  I  will  do  it." 

44  Captain,  we  only  wants  what  is  our  due,"  said  Bob, 
with  his  chin  up,  and  his  strong  eyes  stern.  44  We  have 
been  on  the  loose  ;  and  it  is  the  manner  of  us,  and  encour- 
aged by  the  high  authorities.  We  have  come  across,  by 
luck  of  drink,  a  thing  as  seems  to  suit  you  ;  and  we  have 
told  you  all  our  knowledge  without  no  conditions.  If  you 
takes  us  for  a  pair  of  fools,  and  want  no  more  of  us,  you  are 
welcome,  and  it  will  be  what  we  are  used  to  ;  but  if  your 
meaning  is  to  use  us,  we  must  have  fair  wages  ;  and  even 
so,  we  would  have  naught  to  do  with  it  if  it  was  against  an 
honest  man  ;  but  a  rogue  who  has  scuttled  a  ship — lor, 
there  !" 

Bob  cast  out  the  juice  of  his  chew  into  the  fire,  as  if  it 
were  the  life-blood  of  such  a  villain,  and  looked  at  his 
father,  who  expressed  approval  by  the  like  proceeding. 
And  Geoffrey  Mordacks  was  well  content  at  finding  -them 
made  of  decent  stuff.  It  was  not  his  manner  to  do  things 
meanly  ;  and  he  had  only  spoken  so  to  moderate  their 
minds  and  keep  them  steady. 

44  Mariner  Bob,  you  speak  well  and  wisely,"  he  answered, 
with  a  superior  smile.  "  Your  anxiety  as  to  ways  and 
means  does  credit  to  your  intellect.  That  subject  has  re- 
ceived my  consideration.  I  have  studied  the  style  of  life 
at  Flamborough,  and  the  prices  of  provisions — would  that 
such  there  were  in  York — and  to  keep  you  in  temperate  and 
healthy  comfort,  without  temptation,  and  with  minds  alert, 
I  am  determined  to  allow  for  the  two  of  you,  over  and  , 


OF   SOLID  TIMBEE.  247 

above  all  your  present  income  irom  a  grateiui  country 
(which  pays  a  man  less  when  amputation  has  left  less  of 
him),  the  sum  of  one  guinea  and  a  half  per  week.  But  re- 
member that,  to  draw  this  stipend,  both  of  you  must  be  in 
condition  to  walk  one  mile  and  a  half  on  a  Saturday  night  ; 
which  is  a  test  of  character.  You  will  both  be  fitted  up 
with  solid  steel  ends,  by  the  cutler  at  the  end  of  Ouse 
bridge,  to-morrow  morning,  so  that  the  state  of  the  roads 
will  not  affect  you  ;  and  take  note  of  one  thing,  mutual 
support  (graceful  though  it  always  is  in  paternal  and  filial 
communion)  will  not  be  allowed  on  a  Saturday  night.  Each 
man  must  stand  on  his  own  stumps." 

44  Sir,"  replied  Bob,  who  had  much  education,  which 
led  him  to  a  knowledge  of  his  failings  ;  "  never  you  fear 
but  what  we  shall  do  it.  Sunday  will  be  the  day  of  stand- 
ing with  a  shake  to  it  ;  for  such  is  the  habit  of  the  navy. 
Father,  return  thanks  ;  make  a  leg — no  man  can  do  it  bet- 
ter. Master  Mordacks,  you  shall  have  our  utmost  duty  ; 
but  a  little  brass  in  hand  would  be  convenient." 

' i  You  shall  have  a  fortnight  in  advance  ;  after  that  you 
must  go  every  Saturday  night  to  a  place  I  will  appoint  for 
you.  Now  keep  your  own  counsel  ;  watch  that  fellow  ; 
by  no  means  scare  him  at  first  unless  you  see  signs  of  his 
making  off  ;  but  rather  let  him  think  that  you  know  noth- 
ing of  his  crime.  Labor  hard  to  make  him  drink  again  ;  then 
terrify  him  like  Davy  Jones  himself,  and  get  every  particu- 
lar out  of  him  ;  especially  how  he  himself  escaped,  where 
he  landed,  and  who  was  with  him.  I  want  to  learn  all 
about  a  little  boy  (at  least  he  may  be  a  big  man  now)  who 
was  on  board  the  ship  Golconda,  under  the  captain's 
special  charge.  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  child  es- 
caped ;  and  I  got  a  little  trace  of  something  connected  with 
him  at  Flarnborough.  I  durst  not  make  much  inquiry 
there,  because  I  am  ordered  to  keep  things  quiet.  Still  I 
did  enough  to  convince  me  almost  that  my  suspicion  was  tin 
error  ;  for  Widow  Precious — " 

"  Pay  you  no  heed,  sir,  to  any  manoeuvring  of  Widow 
Precious.  We  find  her  no  worse  than  the  other  women  ; 
but  not  a  blamed  bit  better." 

"  I  think  highly  of  the  female  race  ;  at  least,  in  com- 


248  MARY  ANERLEY. 

panson  with  the  male  one.  I  have  always  found  reason  to 
believe  that  a  woman,  put  upon  her  mettle  by  a  secret,  will 
find  it  out,  or  perish.'7 

"  Your  honor,  everybody  knows  as  much  as  that  ;  but  it 
doth  not  follow  that  she  tells  it  on  again,  without  she  was 
ordered  not  to  do  so." 

"  Bob,  you  have  not  been  round  the  world  for  nothing. 
I  see  my  blot,  and  you  have  hit  it  ;  you  deserve  to  know 
all  about  the  matter  now.  Match  me  that  button,  and  you 
shall  have  ten  guineas." 

The  two  sailors  stared  at  the  bead  of  Indian  gold  which 
Mordacks  pulled  out  of  his  pocket.  Buttons  are  a  subject 
for  nautical  contempt  and  condemnation  ;  perhaps  because 
there  is  nobody  to  sew  them  on  at  sea  ;  while  ear-rings,  be- 
ing altogether  useless,  are  held  in  good  esteem  and  honor. 

"  I  have  seen  a  brace  of  ear-rings  like  it,"  said  old  Joe, 
wading  through  deep  thought.  "  Bob,  you  knows  who 
was  a  wearin  of  7eui." 

"  A  score  of  them  fishermen,  like  enough,"  cautious  Bob 
answered  ;  for  he  knew  what  his  father  meant,  but  would 
not  speak  of  the  great  free-trader  ;  for  Master  Mordacks 
might  even  be  connected  with  the  revenue.  "  What  use 
to  go  on  about  such  gear  ?  His  honor  wanteth  to  hear  of 
buttons,  regulation  buttons  by  the  look  of  it,  and  good 
enough  for  Lord  Nelson.  Will  you  let  us  take  the  scantle, 
and  the  rig  of  it,  your  honor  ?" 

"  By  all  means,  if  you  can  do  so,  my  friend  ;  but  what 
have  you  to  do  it  with  ?" 

"  Hold  on  a  bit,  sir,  and  you  shall  see."  With  these 
wrords  Bob  clapped  a  piece  of  soft  York  bread  into  the  hol- 
low of  his  broad  brown  palm,  moistened  it  with  sugary 
dregs  of  ale,  such  as  that  good  city  loves,  and  kneading  it 
firmly  with  some  rapid  flits  of  thumb,  tempered  and  en- 
riched it  nobly  with  the  mellow  juice  of  quid.  Treated 
thus,  it  took  consistence,  plastic,  docile,  and  retentive  pulp  ; 
and  the  color  was  something  like  that  of  gold  which  had 
passed,  according  to  its  fate,  through  a  large  number  of  un- 
clean hands. 

"  Now  the  pattern,  your  honor,"  said  Bob,  with  a 
grin  ;  "  I  could  do  it  from  memory,  but  better  from  the 


THE   PROPER   WAY   TO   ARGUE.  249 

thing. "  He  took  the  bauble,  and  set  it  on  the  foot  of  a 
rummer  which  stood  on  the  table  ;  and  in  half  a  minute  he 
had  the  counterpart  in  size,  shape,  and  line,  but  without 
the  inscription.  "  A  sample  of  them  in  the  hollow  will  do, 
and  good  enough  for  the  nigger-body  words — heathen 
writing  to  my  mind. "  With  lofty  British  intolerance,  he 
felt  that  it  might  be  a  sinful  thing  to  make  such  marks  ; 
nevertheless  he  impressed  one  side,  whereon  the  characters 
were  boldest,  into  the  corresponding  groove  of  his  paste 
model  ;  then  he  scooped  up  the  model  on  the  broad  blade 
of  his  knife,  and  set  it  in  the  oven  of  the  little  fireplace, 
in  a  part  where  the  heat  was  moderate. 

"  Well  done,  indeed  !"  cried  Mr.  Mordacks,  "  you  will 
have  a  better  likeness  of  it  than  good  Mother  Precious. 
Robert,  I  admire  your  ingenuity.  But  all  sailors  are  inge- 
nious. ' ' 

"  At  sea,  in  the  trades,  or  in  a  calm,  sir,  what  have  we 
to  do  but  to  twiddle  our  thumbs,  and  practise  fiddling  with 
them  ?  A  lively  tune  is  what  I  like,  and  a-serving  of  the 
guns  red-hot  ;  a  man  must  act  according  to  what  nature 
puts  upon  him.  And  nature  hath  taken  one  of  my  legs 
from  me,  with  a  cannon-shot  from  the  French  line-of -battle- 
ship— '  Bights  of  Mankind  *  the  name  of  her. ' ' 


CPIAPTER  XXVII. 

THE    PROPER    WAY    TO    ARGUE. 

ALAS,  how  seldom  is  anything  done  in  proper  time  and 
season  !  Either  too  fast  or  too  slow  is  the  clock  of  all  hu- 
man dealings  ;  and  what  is  the  law  of  them,  when  the  sun 
(the  regulator  of  works  and  ways)  has  to  be  allowed  for 
very  often  on  his  own  meridian  ?  With  the  best  intention 
every  man  sets  forth,  to  do  his  duty,  and  to  talk  of  it  ;  and 
he  makes  quite  sure  that  he  has  done  it,  and  to  his  privy 
circle  boasts,  or  lets  them  do  it  better  for  him  ;  but  before 
his  lips  are  dry,  his  ears  apprise  him  that  he  was  a  stroke 
too  late. 

So  happened  it  with  Master  Mordacks,  who  of  all  born 


250  MARY   AKERLEY. 

men  was  foremost,  with  his  wiry  fingers  spread,  to  pass 
them  through  the  scattery  forelock  of  that  mettlesome  horse, 
old  Time.  The  old  horse  galloped  by  him  unawares,  and 
left  him  standing  still,  to  hearken  the  swish  of  the  tail,  and 
the  clatter  of  the  hoofs,  and  the  spirited  nostrils  neighing 
for  a  race,  on  the  wide  breezy  down  at  the  end  of  the  lane. 
But  Geoffrey  Mordacks  was  not  to  blame.  His  instructions 
were  to  move  slowly,  until  he  was  sure  of  something  worth 
moving  for.  And  of  this  he  had  no  surety  yet  ;  and  was 
only  too  likely  to  lose  it  altogether  by  any  headlong  action. 
Therefore,  instead  of  making  any  instant  rush,  or  belting 
on  his  pistols,  and  hiring  the  sagacious  quadruped  who  un- 
derstood his  character,  content  he  was  to  advance  delib- 
erately upon  one  foot  and  three  artificial  legs. 

Meanwhile,  at  Anerley  Farm,  the  usual  fatness  of  full 
garners,  and  bright  comfort  of  the  evening  hearth,  the  glow 
of  peace,  which  labor  kindles  in  the  mind  that  has  earned 
its  rest,  and  the  pleasant  laziness  of  heart,  which  comes 
where  family  love  lies  careless,  confident,  and  unassailed — 
the  pleasure  also  of  pitying  the  people  who  never  can  get  in 
their  wheat,  and  the  hot  benevolence  of  boiling  down  the 
bones  for  the  man  who  has  tumbled  off  one's  own  rick — all 
these  blisses,  large  and  little,  were  not  in  their  usual  prime. 

The  master  of  the  house  was  stern  and  silent,  heavy, 
and  careless  of  his  customary  victuals,  neglectful  also  of  his 
customary  jokes.  He  disliked  the  worse  side  of  a  bargain 
as  much  as  in  his  most  happy  moments  ;  and  the  medita- 
tion (which  is  generally  supposed  to  be  going  on  where 
speech  is  scarce)  was  not  of  such  loftiness  as  to  overlook  the 
time  a  man  stopped  round  the  corner.  As  a  horse  settles 
down  to  strong  collar-work  better  when  the  gloss  of  the 
stable  takes  the  ruffle  of  the  air  ;  so  this  man  worked  at  his 
business  all  the  harder,  with  the  brightness  of  the  home-joys 
fading.  But  it  went  very  hard  with  him,  more  than  once, 
when  he  made  a  good  stroke  of  salesmanship,  to  have  to  put 
the  money  in  the  bottom  of  his  pocket  without  even  rubbing 
a  bright  half-crown,  and  saying  to  himself,  "  I  have  a'most 
a  mind  to  give  this  to  Mary. ' ' 

Now  if  this  settled  and  steadfast  man  (with  three-quarters 
of  his  life  gone  over  him,  and  less  and  less  time  every  year 


THE   PROPER   WAY   TO   ARGUE.  251 

for  considering  soft  subjects),  in  spite  of  all  that,  was  put 
out  of  his  way  by  not  being  looked  at  as  usual — though  for 
that  matter,  perhaps,  himself  failed  to  look  in  search  of 
those  looks,  as  usual — what,  on  the  other  hand,  was  likely  to 
remain  of  mirth  and  light-heartedness  in  a  weaker  quarter  ? 
Mary,  who  used  to  be  as  happy  as  a  bird,  where  worms 
abound  and  cats  are  scarce,  was  now  in  a  grievous  plight  of 
mind,  restless,  lonely,  troubled  in  her  heart,  and  doubtful 
of  her  conscience.  Her  mother  had  certainly  shown  kind 
feeling,  and  even  a  readiness  to  take  her  part,  which  sur- 
prised the  maiden  after  all  her  words  ;  and  once  or  twice 
they  had  had  a  cry  together,  clearing  and  strengthening  their 
intellects  desirably.  For  the  more  Mistress  Anerley  began 
to  think  about  it,  the  more  she  was  almost  sure  that  some- 
thing could  be  said  on  both  sides.  She  never  had  alto- 
gether approved  of  the  farmer's  volunteering,  which  took 
him  away  to  drill  at  places  where  ladies  came  to  look  at 
him  ;  and  where  he  slept  out  of  his  own  bed,  and  got  things 
to  eat  that  she  had  never  heard  of  ;  and  he  never  was  the 
better  afterward.  If  that  was  the  thing  which  set  his  mind 
against  free-trade  so  bitterly,  it  went  far  to  show  that  free- 
trade  was  good,  and  it  made  all  the  difference  of  a  blanket. 
And  more  than  that,  she  had  always  said  from  the  very  first, 
and  had  even  told  the  same  thing  to  Captain  Carroway,  in 
spite  of  his  position,  that  nobody  knew  what  Robin  Lyth 
might  not  turn  out  in  the  end  to  be.  He  had  spoken  most 
highly  of  her,  as  Mary  had  not  feared  to  mention  ;  and  she 
felt  obliged  to  him  for  doing  so,  though  of  course  he  could 
not  do  otherwise.  Still  there  were  people  who  would  not 
have  done  that,  and  it  proved  that  he  was  a  very  promis- 
ing young  man. 

Mary  was  pleased  with  this  conclusion,  and  glad  to  have 
some  one  who  did  not  condemn  her  ;  hopeful,  moreover, 
that  her  mother's  influence  might  have  some  effect  by  and 
by.  But  for  the  present  it  seemed  to  do  more  harm  than 
good  ;  because  the  farmer,  having  quite  as  much  jealousy 
as  justice,  took  it  into  silent  dudgeon,  that  the  mother  of 
his  daughter,  who  regularly  used  to  be  hard  upon  her  for 
next  to  nothing,  should  now  turn  round  and  take  her  part, 
from  downright  womanism,  in  the  teeth  of  all  reason,  and 


262  MARY   ASTERLEY. 

of  her  own  husband  !  Brave  as  he  was,  he  did  not  put  it 
to  his  wife  in  so  strong  a  way  as  that  ;  but  lie  argued  it  so 
to  himself,  and  would  let  it  fly  forth,  without  thinking 
twice  about  it,  if  they  went  on  in  that  style  much  longer, 
quite  as  if  he  were  nobody,  and  they  could  do  better  with- 
out him.  Little  he  knew,  in  this  hurt  state  of  mind — for 
which  he  should  really  have  been  too  old — how  the  heart 
of  his  child  was  slow,,  and  chill,  stupid  with  the  strangeness 
he  had  made,  waiting  for  him  to  take  the  lead,  or  open 
some  door  for  entrance,  and  watching  for  the  humors  of  the 
elder  body  ;  as  the  young  of  past  generations  did.  And 
sometimes,  faithful  as  she  was  to  plighted  truth  and  tender- 
ness, one  coaxing  word  would  have  brought  her  home  to 
the  arms  that  used  to  carry  her. 

But  while  such  things  were  waiting  to  be  done  till  they 
were  thought  of,  the  time  for  doing  them  went  by  ;  and  to 
think  of  them  was  memory.  Master  Popplewell  had  told 
Captain  Anerley  continually  what  his  opinions  were  ;  fairly 
giving  him  to  know,  on  each  occasion,  that  they  were  to  be 
taken  for  what  they  were  worth  ;  that  it  did  not  follow, 
from  his  own  success  in  life,  that  he  might  not  be  mistaken 
now  ;  and  that  he  did  not  care  a  d — n,  except  for  Christian 
feeling,  whether  any  fool  hearkened  to  him  twice  or  not. 
He  said  that  he  never  had  been  far  out,  in  any  opinion  he 
had  formed  in  all  his  life  ;  but  none  the  more  for  that 
would  he  venture  to  foretell  a  thing  with  cross-purposes 
about  it.  A  man  of  sagacity  and  dealings  with  the  world 
might  happen  to  be  right  ninety-nine  times  in  a  hundred  ; 
and  yet  he  might  be  wrong  the  other  time.  Therefore,  he 
would  not  give  any  opinion  ;  except  that  everybody  would 
be  sorry  by  and  by,  when  things  were  too  late  for  mend- 
ing. 

To  this  the  farmer  listened  with  an  air  of  wisdom,  not 
put  forward  too  severely  ;  because  Brother  Popplewell  had 
got  a  lot  of  money,  and  must  behave  handsomely  when  in 
a  better  world.  The  simplest  way  of  treating  him  was  just 
to  let  him  talk — for  it  pleased  him  and  could  do  no  harm 
— and  then  to  recover  self-content  by  saying  what  a  fool 
he  was,  when  out  of  hearing.  The  tanner  partly  suspected 
this,  and  it  put  his  nature  upon  edge  ;  for  he  always  drove 


THE   PKOPER  WAY   TO   ARGUE.  253 

his  opinions  in,  as  if  they  were  so  many  tenpenny  nails, 
which  the  other  man  must  either  clinch,  or  strike  back  into 
his  teeth  outright.  He  would  rather  have  that  than  flabby 
silence,  as  if  he  were  nailing  into  dry  rot. 

"  I  tell  you  what  it  is,"  he  said,  the  third  time  he  came 
over,  which  was  well  within  a  week — for  nothing  breeds 
impatience  faster  than  retirement  from  work — "  you  are 
so  thick-headed  in  your  farm-house  ways,  sometimes  I  am 
worn  out  with  you.  I  do  not  expect  to  be  thought  of  any 
higher,  because  I  have  left  off  working  for  myself  ;  and 
Deborah  is  satisfied  to  be  called  l  Deb  by/  and  walks  no 
prouder  than  if  she  had  got  to  clean  her  own  steps  daily. 
You  cannot  enter  into  what  people  think  of  me,  counting 
Parson  Beloe  ;  and  therefore  it  is  no  good  saying  anything 
about  it.  But,  Stephen,  you  may  rely  upon  it  that  you 
will  be  sorry  afterward.  That  poor  girl,  the  prettiest  girl 
in  Yorkshire,  and  the  kindest  and  the  best,  is  going  off  her 
victuals,  and  consuming  of  her  substance,  because  you  will 
not  even  look  at  her.  If  you  don't  want  the  child,  let  me 
have  her.  To  us  she  is  welcome  as  the  flowers  in  May." 

"  If  Mary  wishes  it,  she  can  go  with  you,"  the  farmer 
answered  sternly  ;  and  hating  many  words,  he  betook  him- 
self to  work,  resolving  to  keep  at  it  until  the  tanner  should 
be  gone.  But  when  he  came  home  after  dusk,  his  stead- 
fast heart  was  beating  faster  than  his  stubborn  mind  ap- 
proved. Mary  might  have  taken  him  at  his  word,  and 
flown  for  refuge  from  displeasure,  cold  voice,  and  dull  com- 
fort to  the  warmth,  and  hearty  cheer,  and  love  of  the  folk 
who  only  cared  to  please  her,  spoil  her,  and  utterly  ruin 
her.  Folk  who  had  no  sense  of  fatherly  duty,  or  right 
conscience  ;  but,  having  piled  up  dirty  money,  thought 
that  it  covered  everything  ;  such  people  might  think  it  fair 
to  come  between  a  father  and  his  child,  and  truckle  to  her, 
by  backing  her  up  in  whims  that  were  against  her  good, 
and  making  light  of  right  and  wrong,  as  if  they  turned  on 
money — but  Mary  (such  a  prudent  lass,  although  she  was  a 
fool  just  now)  must  see  through  all  such  shallow  tricks, 
such  rigmarole  about  Parson  Beloe,  who  must  be  an  idiot 
himself  to  think  so  much  of  Simon  Popplewell — for  Easter 
offerings,  no  doubt — but  there,  if  Mary  had  the  heart  to  go 


254  MAKY   AXERLEY. 

away,  what  use  to  stand  maundering  about  it  ?  Stephen 
Anerley  would  be  dashed  if  he  cared  which  way  it  was. 

Meaning  all  this,  Stephen  Anerley,  however,  carried  it 
out  in  a  style  at  variance  with  such  reckless  vigor.  Instead 
of  marching  boldly  in  at  his  own  door,  and  throwing  him- 
self upon  a  bench,  and  waiting  to  be  waited  upon — he  left 
the  narrow  gravel  walk  (which  led  from  the  horse-gate  to 
the  front  door),  and  craftily  fetched  a  compass  through  the 
pleasure-beds  and  little  shrubs,  upon  the  sward,  and  in  the 
dusk, -so  that  none  might  see  or  hear  him.  Then  priding 
himself  upon  his  stealth,  as  a  man  with  whom  it  is  rare 
may  do,  yet  knowing  all  the  time  that  he  was  more  than 
half  ashamed  of  it,  he  began  to  peep  in  at  his  own  win- 
dows, as  if  he  were  planning  how  to  rob  his  own  house. 
This  thought  struck  him,  but  instead  of  smiling,  he  sighed 
very  sadly  ;  for  his  object  was  to  learn  whether  house  and 
home  had  been  robbed  of  that  which  he  loved  so  fondly. 
There  was  no  Mary  in  the  kitchen,  seeing  to  his  supper  ; 
the  fire  was  bright,  and  the  pot  was  there,  but  only  shadows 
round  it.  No  Mary  in  the  little  parlor  ;  only  Willie  half- 
asleep,  with  a  stupid  book  upon  his  lap,  and  a  wretched 
candle  guttering.  Then,  as  a  last  hope,  he  peered  into  the 
dairy,  where  she  often  went  at  fall  of  night,  to  see  things 
safe,  and  sang  to  keep  the  ghosts  away.  She  would  not  be 
singing  now  of  course,  because  he  was  so  cross  with  her  ; 
but  if  she  were  there,  it  would  be  better  than  the  merriest 
song  for  him.  But  no,  the  place  was  dark  and  cold,  tub 
and  pan,  and  wooden  skimmer,  and  the  pails  hung  up  to 
drain,  all  were  left  to  themselves,  and  the  depth  of  want  of 
life  was  over  them.  ' '  She  hathn't  been  there  for  an  hour, ' ' 
thought  he  ;  "  a  reek  o'  milk,  and  not  my  lassie. " 

Very  few  human  beings  have  such  fragrance  of  good-will 
as  milk.  The  farmer  knew  that  he  had  gone  too  far  in 
speaking  coarsely  of  the  cow  ;  whose  children  first  forego 
their  food  for  the  benefit  of  ours,  and  then  become  veal  to 
please  us.  "  My  little  maid  is  gone, "  said  the  lord  of 
many  cows,  and  who  had  robbed  some  thousand  of  their 
dear  calves.  "  I  trow  I  must  make  up  my  mind  to  see  my 
little  maid  no  more." 

Without  compunction  for  any  mortal   cow  (though  one 


THE   PROPER   WAY  TO   ARGUE.  255 

was  bellowing  sadly  in  the  distance,  who  had  lost  her  calf 
that  day),  and  without  even  dreaming  of  a  grievance  there, 
Master  Anerley  sat  down  to  think,  upon  a  little  bench  hard 
by.  His  thoughts  were  not  very  deep  or  subtle  ;  yet  to 
him  they  were  difficult,  because  they  were  so  new  and  sad. 
He  had  always  hoped  to  go  through  life  in  the  happiest 
way  there  is  of  it,  with  simply  doing  common  work,  and 
heeding  daily  business,  and  letting  other  people  think  the 
higher  class  of  thought  for  him.  To  live  as  nature,  culti- 
vated quite  enough  for  her  own  content,  enjoys  the  round 
of  months  and  years,  the  changes  of  the  earth  and  sky,  and 
gentle  slope  of  time  subsiding  to  softer  shadows  and  milder 
tones.  And,  most  of  all,  to  see  his  children,  dutiful,  good, 
and  loving,  able  and  ready  to  take  his  place — when  he 
should  be  carried  from  farm  to  church — to  work  the  land 
he  loved  so  well,  and  to  walk  in  his  ways  and  praise  him. 

But  now  he  thought,  like  Job  in  his  sorrow,  ' '  All  these 
things  are  against  me."  The  air  was  laden  with  the  scents 
of  autumn,  rich,  and  ripe,  and  soothing — the  sweet  fulfil- 
ment of  the  year.  The  mellow  odor  of  stacked  wheat,  the 
stronger  perfume  of  clover,  the  brisk  smell  of  apples  newly 
gathered,  the  distant  hint  of  onions  roped,  and  the  lus- 
cious waft  of  honey,  spread  and  hung  upon  the  evening 
breeze.  "  What  is  the  good  of  all  this,"  he  muttered, 
"  when  my  little  lassie  is  gone  away,  as  if  she  had  no 
father?" 

"  Father,  I  am  not  gone  away.,  Oh,  father,  I  never  will 
go  away,  if  you  will  love  me  as  you  did. ' ' 

Here  Mary  stopped  ;  for  the  short  breath  of  a  sob  was 
threatening  to  catch  her  words  ;  and  her  nature  was  too 
like  her  father's  to  let  him  triumph  over  her.  The  sense  of 
wrong  was  in  her  heart,  as  firm  and  deep  as  in  his  own,  and 
her  love  of  justice  quite  as  strong  ;  only  they  differed  as  to 
what  it  was.  Therefore,  Mary  would  not  sob  until  she  was 
invited.  She  stood  in  the  arch  of  trimmed  yew-tree,  al- 
most within  reach  of  his  arms  ;  and  though  it  was  dark,  he 
knew  her  face  as  if  the  sun  was  on  it. 

"  Dearie,  sit  down  here,"  he  said  ;  "  there  used  to  be 
room  for  you  and  me,  without  two  chairs,  when  you  was 
my  child." 


256  MARY  AKERLEY. 

"  Father,  I  am  still  your  child,'7  she  answered  softly, 
sitting  by  him.  u  Were  you  looking  for  me  just  now  ? 
Say  it  was  me  you  were  looking  for. ' ' 

"  There  is  such  a  lot  of  rogues  to  look  for  ;  they  skulk 
about  so,  and  they  fire  the  stacks — " 

' 1  Now,  father,  you  never  could  tell  a  fib, ' '  she  answered, 
sidling  closer  up,  and  preparing  for  his  repentance. 

"  I  say  that  I  was  looking  for  a  rogue.  If  the  cap  fits — " 
here  he  smiled  a  little,  as  much  as  to  say,  ' '  I  had  you 
there  ;"  and  then,  without  meaning  it,  from  simple  force  of 
habit,  he  did  a  thing  equal  to  utter  surrender.  He  stroked 
his  chin,  as  he  always  used  to  do  when  going  to  kiss  Mary, 
that  the  bristles  might  lie  down  for  her. 

"  The  cap  doesn't  fit ;  nothing  fits  but  you  ;  you — you — 
you,  my  own  dear  father,"  she  cried,  as  she  kissed  him 
again  and  again,  and  put  her  arms  round  to  protect  him. 
"  And  nobody  fits  you  but  your  own  Mary.  I  knew  you 
were  sorry.  You  needn't  say  it.  You  are  too  stubborn, 
and  I  will  let  you  off.  Now,  don't  say  a  word,  father,  I 
can  do  without  it.  I  don't  want  to  humble  you,  but  only 
to  make  you  good  ;  and  you  are  the  very  best  of  all  people, 
when  you  please.  And  you  never  must  be  cross  again 
with  your  darling  Mary.  Promise  me  immediately  ;  or 
you  shall  have  no  supper. ' ' 

"  Well,"  said  the  farmer,  "  I  used  to  think  that  I  was 
gifted  with  the  gift  of  argument.  Not  like  a  woman,  per- 
haps ;  but  still  pretty  well  for  a  man,  as  can't  spare  time  for 
speechifying,  and  hath  to  earn  bread  for  self  and  young 
uns." 

"  Father,  it  is  that  arguing  spirit  that  has  done  you  so 
much  harm.  You  must  take  things  as  Heaven  sends  them  ; 
and  not  go  arguing  about  them.  For  instance,  Heaven  has 
sent  you  me." 

"  So  a'  might,"  Master  Anerley  replied  ;  "  but  without 
a  voice  from  the  belly  of  a  fish,  I  wunna'  believe  that  He 
sent  Bob  Lyth." 


FAREWELL,    WIFE   AND   CHILDREN   DEAR.         257 

CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

FAREWELL,    WIFE    AND     CHILDREN    DEAR. 

Now  Robin  Lytli  held  himself  in  good  esteem  ;  as  every 
honest  man  is  bound  to  do,  or  surely  the  rogues  will  devour 
him.  Modesty  kept  him  silent  as  to  his  merits  very  often  ; 
but  the  exercise  of  self-examination  made  them  manifest  to 
himself.  As  the  Yorkshireman  said  to  his  minister,  when 
pressed  to  make  daily  introspection,  "  I  dare  na  do  it, 
sir  ;  it  sets  me  up  so,  and  leaveth  no  chance  for  my  neigh- 
bors ;"  so  the  great  free-trader,  in  charity  for  others,  for- 
bore to  examine  himself  too  much.  But  without  doing 
that,  he  was  conscious  of  being  as  good  as  Master  Anerley, 
and  intended,  with  equal  mind  and  manner,  to  state  his 
claim  to  the  daughter's  hand. 

It  was  not,  therefore,  as  the  farmer  thought,  any  deep 
sense  of  illegality  which  kept  him  from  coming  forward 
now,  as  a  gallant  sailor  always  does  ;  but  rather  the  pressure 
of  sterner  business,  and  the  hard  necessity  of  running 
goods,  according  to  honorable  contract.  After  his  narrow 
escape  from  outrage  upon  personal  privilege — for  the  habeas 
corpus  of  the  Constitution  should  at  least  protect  a  man 
while  making  love — it  was  clear  that  the  field  of  his  duties 
as  a  citizen  was  padlocked  against  him  until  next  time. 
Accordingly  he  sought  the  wider  , bosom  of  the  ever-liberal 
sea  ;  and  leaving  the  noble  Carroway  to  mourn — or  in 
stricter  truth,  alas,  to  swear — away  he  sailed,  at  the  quar- 
tering of  the  moon,  for  the  land  of  the  genial  Dutchman. 

Now,  this  was  the  time  when  the  forces  of  the  realm  were 
mightily  gathered  together  against  him.  Hitherto  there 
had  been  much  fine  feeling  on  the  part  of  his  majesty's 
revenue,  and  a  delicate  sense  of  etiquette.  All  the  com- 
manders of  the  cutters  on  the  coast,  of  whom  and  of  which 
there  now  were  three,  had  met  at  Carro way's  festive  board, 
and,  looking  at  his  family,  had  one  and  all  agreed  to  let  him 
have  the  first  chance  of  the  good  prize-money.  It  was  All 
Saints'  Day  of  the  year  gone  by,  when  they  met  and  thus 
enjoyed  themselves  ;  and  they  bade  their  host  appoint  his 
17 


258  MARY   AKERLEY. 

time  ;  and  he  said  he  should  not  want  three  months.  At 
this  they  laughed,  and  gave  him  twelve  ;  and  now  the 
twelve  had  slipped  away. 

"  I  would  much  rather  never  have  him  caught  at  all," 
said  Carroway  to  his  wife,  when  his  year  of  pre-caption  had 
expired,  "  than  for  any  of  those  fellows  to  nab  him  ; 
especially  that  prig  last  sent  down. ' ' 

"  So  would  I,  dear  ;  so  would  I,  of  course,"  replied 
Mrs.  Carroway,  who  had  been  all  gratitude  for  their  noble 
self-denial  when  they  made  the  promise  ;  ' '  what  airs  they 
would  give  themselves  !  And  what  could  they  do  with  the 
money  ?  Drink  it  out  !  I  am  sure  that  the  condition  of 
our  best  tumblers,  after  they  come,  is  something.  People 
who  don't  know  anything  about  it  always  fancy  that  glass 
will  clean.  Glass  won't  clean,  after  such  men  as  those  ; 
and  as  for  the  table — don't  talk  of  it." 

"  Two  out  of  the  three  are  gone,"  the  lieutenant's  con- 
science was  not  void  of  offence  concerning  tables  ;  "  gone 
upon  promotion.  Everybody  gets  promotion,  if  he  only 
does  his  very  best  never  to  deservre  it.  They  ought  to  have 
caught  Lyth  long  and  long  ago.  What  are  such  dummies 
fit  for?"* 

"  But,  Charles,  you  know  that  they  would  have  acted 
meanly  and  dishonestly,  if  they  had  done  so.  They  prom- 
ised not  to  catch  him  ;  and  they  carried  out  their  prom- 
be." 

11  Matilda,  such  questions  are  beyond  you  altogether. 
You  cannot  be  expected  to  understand  the  service.  One  of 
those  trumpery,  half -decked  craft — or  they  used  to  be  half- 
deckers  in  my  time — has  had  three  of  those  fresh-meat 
Jemmies  over  her,  in  a  single  twelvemonth.  But  of  course 
they  were  all  bound  by  the  bargain  they  had  made.  As 
for  that,  small  thanks  to  them.  How  could  they  catch 
him  when  I  couldn't  ?  They  chop  and  they  change  so,  I 
forget  their  names  ;  my  head  is  not  so  good  as  it  was,  with 
getting  so  much  moonlight. ' ' 

"  Nonsense,  Charles  ;  you  know  them  like  your  fingers. 
But  I  know  what  you  want  ;  you  want  Geraldine,  you  are 
so  proud  to  hear  her  tell  it." 

"  Tilly,  you  are  worse.      You  love  to  hear  her  say  it. 


FAREWELL,    WIFE   AND    CHILDREN   DEAR.         259 

Well,  call  her  in,  and  let  her  do  it.  She  is  making*  an 
oyster-shell  cradle  over  there,  with  two  of  the  blessed 
babies. " 

44  Charles,  how  very  profane  you  are  !  All  babes  are 
blest  by  the  Lord  in  an  independent  parable,  whether  they 
can  walk,  or  crawl,  or  put  up  their  feet,  and  take  nourish- 
ment. Jerry,  you  come  in  this  very  moment.  What  are 
you  doing  with  your  two  brothers  there,  and  a  dead  skate 
— bless  the  children  !  Now  say  the  cutters  and  their  cap- 
tains." 

Geraldine,  who  was  a  pretty  little  girl,  as  well  as  a  good 
and  clever  one,  swept  her  wind-tossed  hair  aside,  and  began 
to  repeat  her  lesson  ;  for  which  she  sometimes  got  a  penny 
when  her  father  had  made  a  good  dinner. 

44  His  majesty's  cutter  Swordfish,  Commander  Nettle- 
bones,  senior  officer  of  the  eastern  division  after  my  papa, 
although  a  very  young  man  still,  carries  a  swivel-gun  and 
two  bow-chasers.  His  majesty's  cutter  Kestrel,  command- 
ed by  Lieutenant  Bowler,  is  armed  with  three  long-Johns, 
or  strap-guns,  capable  of  carrying  a  pound  of  shrapnel. 
His  majesty's  cutter  Albatross,  Lieutenant  Corkoran  Dono- 
van, carries  no  artillery  yet — " 

44  Not  artillery — guns,  child  ;  your  mother  calls  them 
1  artillery.'  " 

4  4  Carries  no  guns  yet,  because  she  was  captured  from  the 
foreign  enemy,  and  as  yet  she  has  not  been  reported 
stanch  since  the  British  fire  made  a  hole  in  her.  It  is, 
however,  expected  that  those  asses  at  the  dock-yard — " 

44  Geraldine,  how  often  must  I  tell  you  that  you  are  not 
to  use  that  word  ?  It  is  your  father's  expression." 

44  It  is,  however,  expected  that  those  donkeys  at  the  dock- 
yard will  recommend  her  to  be  fitted  with  two  brass  howis- 
yers. ' ' 

4 1  Howitzers,  my  darling.  Spell  that  word  and  you  shall 
have  your  penny.  Now  you  may  run  out  and  play  again. 
Give  your  old  father  a  pretty  kiss  for  it.  I  often  wish," 
continued  the  lieutenant,  as  his  daughter  flew  back  to  the 
dead  skate  and  the  babies,  44  that  I  had  only  got  that  child's 
clear  head.  Sometimes  the  worry  is  too  much  for  me. 
And  now  if  Nettlebones  catches  Robin  Lyth,  to  *a  certainty 


200  MARY   AKERLEY. 

I  shall  be  superseded,  and  all  of  us  go  to  the  workhouse. 
Oh,  Tilly,  why  won't  your  old  aunt  die  ?  We  might  be  so 
happy  afterward." 

"  Charles,  it  is  not  only  sinful,  but  wicked,  to  show  any 
wish  to  hurry  her.  The  Lord  knows  best  what  is  good  for 
us  ;  and  our  prayers  upon  such  matters  should  be  silent. '  ' 

"  Well,  mine  would  be  silent,  and  loud  too,  according  to 
the  best  chance  of  being  heard.  Not  that  I  would  harm 
the  poor  old  soul  ;  I  wish  her  every  heavenly  blessing  ;  and 
her  time  is  come  for  all  of  them.  But  I  never  like  to  think 
of  that,  because  one's  own  time  might  come  first.  I  have 
felt  very  much  out  of  spirits  to-day,  as  my  poor  father  did 
the  day  before  he  got  his  billet.  You  know,  Matilda,  he 
was  under  old  Boscawen,  and  was  killed  by  the  very  first 
shot  fired  ;  it  must  be  five-and-forty  years  ago.  How  my 
mother  did  cry  to  be  sure  !  But  I  was  too  young  to  under- 
stand it.  Ah,  she  had  a  bad  time  with  us  all  !  Matilda, 
what  would  you  do  without  me  ?" 

"  Why,  Charles,  you  are  not  a  bit  like  yourself.  Don't 
go  to-night  ;  stay  at  home  for  once.  And  the  weather  is 
very  uncertain  too.  They  never  will  attempt  their  job  to- 
night. Countermand  the  boats,  dear  ;  I  will  send  word  to 
stop  them.  You  shall  not  even  go  out  of  the  house  your- 
self." 

"  As  if  it  were  possible  !  I  am  not  an  old  woman,  nor 
even  an  old  man  yet,  I  hope.  In  half  an  hour  I  must  be 
off.  There  will  be  good  time  for  a  pipe.  One  more 
pipe  in  the  old  home,  Tilly.  After  all  I  am  well  contented 
with  it  ;  although  now  and  then  I  grumble,  and  I  don't 
like  so  much  cleaning. ' ' 

"  The  cleaning  must  be  done  ;  I  could  never  leave  off 
that.  Your  room  is  going  to  be  turned  out  to-morrow,  and 
before  you  go  you  must  put  away  your  papers,  unless  you 
wish  me  to  do  it.  You  really  never  seem  to  understand 
when  things  are  really  important.  Do  you  wish  me  to  have 
a  great  fever  in  the  house  ?  It  is  a  fortnight  since  your 
boards  were  scrubbed  ;  and  how  can  you  think  of  smok- 
ing ?» 

"  Very  well,  Tilly,  I  can  have  it  by  and  by,  l  upon  the 
dancing  waves,'  as  little  Tommy  has  picked  up  the  song. 


FAREWELL,    WIFE   AND   CHILDREN   DEAR.         261 

Only  I  cannot  Jet  the  men  on  duty  ;  and  to  see  them  long- 
ing destroys  my  pleasure.  Lord,  how  many  times  I  should 
like  to  pass  niy  pipe  to  Dick,  or  Ellis,  if  discipline  allowed 
of  it  !  A  thing  of  that  sort  is  not  like  feeding,  which  must 
be  kept  apart  by  nature  ;  but  this  by  custom  only. ' y 

11  And  a  very  good  custom,  and  most  needful,"  answered 
Mrs.  Carroway.  "  I  never  can  see  why  men  should  want 
to  do  all  sorts  of  foolish  things  with  tobacco — dirty  stuff, 
and  full  of  dust.  No  sooner  do  they  begin,  like  a  tinder- 
box,  than  one  would  think  that  it  made  them  all  alike. 
They  want  to  see  another  body  puffing  two  great  streams 
of  reeking  smoke  from  pipe  and  from  mouth,  as  if  their 
own  was  not  enough  ;  and  their  good  resolutions  to 
speak  truth  of  one  another  float  away,  like  so  much  smoke  ; 
and  they  fill  themselves  with  bad  charity.  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  deserved  his  head  off,  and  Henry  the  Eighth  knew 
what  was  right. ' ' 

"  My  dear,  I  fancy  that  your  history  is  wrong.  The 
king  only  chopped  off  his  own  wives'  heads.  But  the 
moral  of  the  lesson  is  the  same.  I  will  go  and  put  away 
my  papers.  It  will  very  soon  be  dark  enough  for  us  to 
start. " 

u  Charles,  I  cannot  bear  your  going.  The  weather  is  so 
dark,  and  the  sea  so  lonely,  and  the  waves  are  making  such 
a  melancholy  sound.  It  is  not  like  the  summer  nights, 
when  I  can  see  you  six  miles  off,  with  the  moon  upon  the 
sails,  and  the  land  out  of  the  way.  Let  anybody  catch  him 
that  has  the  luck.  Don't  go  this  time,  Charley." 

Carroway  kissed  his  wife  and  sent  her  to  the  baby,  who 
was  squalling  well  up-stairs.  And  when  she  came  down  he 
was  ready  to  start,  and  she  brought  the  baby  for  him  to 
kiss. 

"  Good-by,  little  chap — good-by,  dear  wife."  With 
his  usual  vigor  and  flourish,  he  said,  u  I  never  knew  how 
to  kiss  a  baby  ;  though  I  have  had  such  a  lot  of  them." 

"  Good-by,  Charlie,  dear.  All  your  things  are  right  ; 
and  here  is  the  key  of  the  locker.  You  are  fitted  out  for 
three  days  ;  but  you  must  on  no  account  make  that  time  of 
it.  To-morrow  I  shall  be  very  busy  ;  but  you  must  be 
home  by  the  evening.  Perhaps  there  will  be  a  favorite 


2G2  MARY   AKERLEY. 

thins;  of  yours  for  supper.     You   arc  going   ^  long  way  ; 
but  don't  be  long." 

"  Good-by,  Tilly,  darling — good-by,  Jerry,  dear — good- 
by,  Tommy,  boy,  and  all  iny  countless  family.  I  am  com- 
ing home  to-morrow  with  a  mint  of  money. " 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

TACTICS      OF     DEFENCE. 

THE  sea  at  this  time  was  not  pleasant  ;  and  nobody  look- 
ing at  it  longed  to  employ  upon  it  any  members  of  a  shorter 
reach  than  eyes. 

It  was  not  rushing  upon  the  land,  nor  running  largely  in 
the  offing,  nor,  making  white  streaks  on  the  shoals  ;  neither 
in  any  other  places  doing  things  remarkable.  No  sign 
whatever  of  coming  storm  or  gathering  fury  moved  it  ; 
only  it  was  sullen,  heavy,  petulant,  and  out  of  sorts.  It 
went  about  its  business  in  a  state  of  lumps  irregular,  with- 
out long  billows  or  big  furrows,  as  if  it  took  the  impulse 
more  of  distant  waters  than  of  wind  ;  and  its  color  was  a 
dirty  green.  Ancient  fishermen  hate  this,  and  ancient 
mariners  do  the  same  ;  for  then  the  fish  lie  sulking  on  their 
bellies,  and  then  the  ship  wallows  without  gift  of  sail. 

"  Bear  off,  Tomkins,  and  lay  by  till  the  ebb.  I  can 
only  say,  dash  the  whole  of  it  !" 

Commander  Nettlebones,  of  the  Swordfish,  gave  this 
order  in  disgust  at  last  ;  for  the  tide  was  against  her,  with 
a  heavy  pitch  of  sea,  and  the  mainsail  scarcely  drew  the 
sheet.  What  little  wind  there  was  came  off  the  land,  and 
would  have  been  fair  if  it  had  been  firm  ;  but  often  it 
dropped  altogether  where  the  cliffs,  or  the  clouds  that  lay 
upon  them,  held  it.  The  cutter  had  slipped  away  from 
Scarborough,  as  soon  as  it  was  dark  last  night,  under  orders 
for  Robin  Hood's  Bay,  where  the  Albatross  and  Kestrel 
were  to  meet  her,  bring  tidings,  and  take  orders.  Partly 
by  coast-riding,  and  partly  by  coast-signals,  it  had  been 
arranged  that  these  three  revenue  cruisers  should  come 


TACTICS   OF   DEFENCE.  263 

together  in  a  lonely  place  during  the  haze  of  November 
morning,  and  hold  privy  council  of  importance.  From 
Scarborough,  with  any  wind  at  all,  or  even  with  ordinary 
tide-run,  a  coal  barge  might  almost  make  sure  of  getting  to 
Robin  Hood's  Bay  in  six  hours,  if  the  sea  was  fit  to  swim 
in.  Yet,  here  was  a  cutter,  that  valued  herself  upon  her 
sailing  powers,  already  eighteen  hours  out,  and  headed  back 
perpetually,  like  a  donkey -plough.  Commander  Nettle- 
bones  could  not  understand  it  ;  and  the  more  impatient  he 
became  the  less  could  he  enter  into  it.  The  sea  was  nasty, 
and  the  wrind  uncertain,  also  the  tide  against  him  ;  but  how 
often  had  such  things  combined  to  hinder,  and  yet  he  had 
made  much  fairer  way  !  Fore  and  aft  he  bestrode  the 
planks,  and  cast  keen  eyes  at  everything,  above,  around,  or 
underneath  ;  but  nothing  showed  him  anything.  Nettle- 
bones  was  a  Cornishman,  and  Cornishmen  at  that  time  had 
a  reverent  faith  in  witchcraft.  * i  Robin  Lyth  has  bought 
the  powers,  or  ancient  Carroway  has  done  it,"  he  said  to 
himself,  in  stronger  language  than  is  now  reportable. 
"  Old  Carroway  is  against  us,  I  know,  from  his  confounded 
jealousy  ;  and  this  cursed  delay  will  floor  all  my  plans. ' ' 

He  deserved  to  have  his  best  plans  floored  for  such  vile 
suspicion  of  Carroway.  Whatever  the  brave  lieutenant  did 
was  loyal,  faithful,  and  well  above-board.  Against  the 
enemy  he  had  his  plans,  as  every  great  commander  must, 
and  he  certainly  did  not  desire  to  have  his  glory  stolen  by 
Nettlebones.  But  that  he  would  have  suffered,  with  only  a ' 
grin  at  the  bad  luck  so  habitual  ;  to  do  any  crooked  thing 
against  it  was  not  in  his  nature.  The  cause  of  the  grief  of 
Commander  Nettlebones  lay  far  away  from  Carroway  ;  and 
free-trade  was  at  the  bottom  of  it. 

For  now  this  trim  and  lively  craft  was  doing  herself  biit 
scanty  credit,  either  on  or  off  a  wind.  She  was  like  a  poor 
cat  with  her  tail  in  a  gin,  which  sadly  obstructs  her  prog- 
ress ;  even  more  was  she  like  to  the  little  horse  of  wood, 
who  sits  on  the  edge  of  a  table  and  gallops,  with  a  balance- 
weight  limiting  his  energies.  None  of  the  crew  could 
understand  it,  if  they  were  to  be  believed  ;  and  the  more 
sagacious  talked  of  currents  and  mysterious  "  undertow. " 
And  sure  enough  it  was  undertow,  tho  mystery  of  which 


264  MARY  AKEKLEY. 

was  simple.  One  of  the  very  best  hands  on  board  was  a 
hardy  seaman  from  Flamborough,  akin  to  old  Robin  Cocks- 
croft,  and  no  stranger  to  his  adopted  son.  This  gallant 
seaman  fully  entered  into  the  value  of  long  leverage,  and 
he  made  fine  use  of  a  plug-hole  which  had  come  to  his 
knowledge  behind  his  berth.  It  was  just  above  the  water- 
line,  and  out  of  sight  from  deck,  because  the  hollow  of  the 
run  was  there.  And  long  ere  the  lights  of  Scarborough 
died  into  the  haze  of  night,  as  the  cutter  began  to  cleave 
watery  way,  the  sailor  passed  a  stout  new  rope  from  a  be- 
laying-pin  through  this  hole,  and  then  he  betrayed  his 
watch  on  deck  by  hauling  the  end  up  with  a  clue,  and 
gently  returning  it  to  the  deep  with  a  long  grappling-iron 
made  fast  to  it.  This  had  not  fluke  enough  to  lay  fast  hold 
and  bring  the  vessel  up  ;  for  in  that  case  it  would  have  been 
immediately  discovered  ;  but  it  dragged  along  the  bottom 
like  a  trawl,  and  by  its  weight,  and  a  hitch  every  now  and 
then  in  some  hole,  it  hampered  quite  sufficiently  the  objec- 
tionable voyage.  Instead  of  meeting  her  consorts  in  the 
cloud  of  early  morning,  the  Swordfish  was  scarcely  abreast 
of  the  Southern  Cheek  by  the  middle  of  the  afternoon.  No 
wonder  if  Commander  Nettlebones  was  in  a  fury  long  ere 
that,  and  fitted  neither  to  give  nor  take  the  counsel  of  calm 
wisdom  ;  and  this  condition  of  his  mind,  as  well  as  the  loss 
of  precious  time,  should  have  been  taken  into  more  consid- 
eration by  those  who  condemned  him  for  the  things  that 
followed. 

"  Better  late  than  never,  as  they  say,"  he  cried,  when 
the  Kestrel  and  the  Albatross  hove  in  sight.  "  Tomkins, 
signal  to  make  sail  and  close.  We  seem  to  be  moving 
more  lively  at  last.  I  suppose  we  are  out  of  that  infernal 
undertow." 

"  Well,  sir,  she  seems  like  herself  a  little  more.  She've 
had  a  witch  on  board  of  her,  that's  where  it  is.  When  I 
were  a  younker,  just  joined  his  majesty's  forty-two-gun 
frigate — " 

"  Stow  that,  Tomkins.  No  time  now.  I  remember 
all  about  it,  and  very  good  it  is.  Let  us  have  it  all 
again  when  this  job  is  done  with.  Bowler  and  Donovan 
will  pick  holes  if  they  can,  after  waiting  for  us  half  a  day. 


TACTICS  OF   DEFENCE.  265 

Not  a  word  about  our  slow  sailing,  mind  ;  leave  that  to  me. 
They  are  framptious  enough.  Have  everything  trim,  and 
all  hands  ready.  When  they  range  within  hail,  sing  out 
for  both  to  come  to  me." 

It  was  pretty  to  see  the  three  cutters  meet,  all  handled  as 
smartly  as  possible  ;  for  the  Flamborough  man  had  cast  off 
his  clog,  and  the  Swordfish  again  was  as  nimble  as  need  be. 
Lieutenants  Bowler  and  Donovan  were  soon  in  the  cabin  of 
their  senior  officer,  and  durst  not  question  him  very  strictly 
as  to  his  breach  of  rendezvous,  for  his  manner  was  short 
and  sharp  with  them. 

u  There  is  plenty  of  time,  if  we  waste  it  not  in  talking," 
he  said,  when  they  had  finished  comparing  notes.  u  All 
these  reports  we  are  bound  to  receive  and  consider  ;  but  I 
believe  none  of  them.  The  reason  why  poor  Carroway  has 
made  nothing  but  a  mess  of  it  is,  that  he  will  listen  to  the 
country  people's  tales.  They  are  all  bound  together,  all 
tarred  with  one  brush — all  stuffed  with  a  heap  of  lies,  to 
send  us  wrong  ;  and  as  for  the  fishing-boats,  and  what  they 
see,  I  have  been  here  long  enough  already  to  be  sure  that 
their  fishing  is  a  sham  nine  times  in  ten,  and  their  real  busi- 
ness is  to  help  those  rogues.  Our  plan  is  to  listen,  and 
pretend  to  be  misled." 

u  True  for  you,  captain,"  cried  the  ardent  Donovan; 
u  You  'bout  ship  as  soon  as  you  can  see  them  out  of 
sight." 

'  *  My  own  opinion  is  this, ' '  said  Bowler,  * i  that  we 
never  shall  catch  any  fellow  until  we  have  a  large  sum  of 
money  placed  at  our  disposal.  The  general  feeling  is  in 
their  favor,  and  against  us  entirely.  Why  is  it  in  their 
favor  ?  Because  they  are  generally  supposed  to  run  great 
risks,  and  suffer  great  hardships.  And  so  they  do  ;  but 
not  half  so  much  as  we  do,  who  keep  the  sea  in  all  sorts  of 
weather,  while  they  can  choose  their  own.  Also  because 
they  outrun  the  law,  which  nature  makes  everybody  long  to 
do,  and  admire  the  lucky  ones  who  can.  But  most  of  all, 
because  they  are  free-handed  ;  and  we  can  be  only  niggards. 
They  rob  the  king  with  impunity,  because  they  pay  well 
for  doing  it  ;  and  he  pays  badly,  or  not  at  all,  to  defend 
himself  from  robbery.  If  we  had  a  thousand  pounds 


266  MARY   ANERLEY. 

apiece,  with  orders  to  spend  it  on  public  service,  take  no 
receipt,  and  give  no  account,  I  am  sure  that  in  three 
months  we  could  stop  all  contraband  work  upon  this  coast." 

"  Upon  me  sowl,  and  so  we  could  ;  and  it's  meself  that 
would  go  into  the  trade,  so  soon  as  it  was  stopped  with  the 
thousand  pounds. ' ' 

"  We  have  no  time  for  talking  nonsense,"  answered 
Nettlebones,  severely,  according  to  the  universal  law,  that 
the  man  who  has  wasted  the  time  of  others  gets  into  a 
flurry  about  his  own.  "  Your  suggestion,  Bowler,  is  a 
very  wise  one,  and  as  full  as  possible  of  common-sense. 
You,  also,  Donovan,  have  shown  with  great  sagacity  what 
might  come  of  it  thereafter.  But,  unluckily,  we  have  to 
get  on  as  we  can,  without  sixpence  to  spare  for  anybody. 
We  know  that  the  fishermen  and  people  on  the  coast,  and 
especially  the  womankind,  are  all  to  a  man — as  our  good 
friend  here  would  say — banded  in  league  against  us. 
Nevertheless,  this  landing  shall  not  be,  at  least  upon  our 
district.  What  happens  north  of  Teesmouth  is  none  of  our 
business  ;  and  we  should  have  the  laugh  of  the  old  Scotch- 
man there,  if  they  pay  him  a  visit,  as  I  hope  they  may  ; 
for  he  cuts  many  jokes  at  our  expense.  But,  by  the  Lord 
Harry,  there  shall  be  no  run  between  the  Tees  and  Yare, 
this  side  of  Christmas.  If  there  is,  we  may  call  ourselves 
three  old  women.  Shake  hands,  gentlemen,  upon  that 
point  ;  and  we  will  have  a  glass  of  grog  to  it." 

This  was  friendly,  and  rejoiced  them  all  ;  for  Nettlebones 
had  been  stiff  at  first.  Readily  enough  they  took  his 
orders,  which  seemed  to  make  it  impossible  almost  for  any- 
thing large  to  slip  between  them,  except  in  case  of  a  heavy 
fog  ;  and,  in  that  case,  they  were  to  land,  and  post  their 
outlooks  near  the  likely  places. 

"  We  have  shed  no  blood  yet,  and  I  hope  we  never 
shall,"  said  the  senior  officer  pleasantly.  "  The  smugglers 
of  this  coast  are  too  wise,  and  I  hope  too  kind-hearted,  for 
that  sort  of  work.  They  are  not  like  those  desperate 
scoundrels  of  Sussex.  When  these  men  are  nabbed,  they 
give  up  their  venture  as  soon  as  it  goes  beyond  cudgel-play, 
and  they  never  lie  in  wait  for  a  murderous  revenge.  In  the 
south  I  have  known  a  very  different  race,  who  would  jump 


TACTICS   OF   DEFENCE.  267 

on  an  officer  till  he  died,  or  lash  him  to  death  with  their 
long  cart-whips  ;  such  fellows  as  broke  open  Poole  Custom- 
house, and  murdered  poor  Galley  and  Cator,  and  the  rest, 
in  a  manner  that  makes  human  blood  run  cold.  It  was 
some  time  back  ;  but  their  sons  are  just  as  bad.  Smuggling 
turns  them  all  to  devils. " 

"  My  belief  is,"  said  Bowler,  who  had  a  gift  of  looking 
at  things  from  an  outer  point  of  view,  4  i  that  these  fellows 
never  propose  to  themselves  to  transgress  the  law,  but  to 
carry  it  out  according  to  their  own  interpretation.  One  of 
them  reasoned  with  me  some  time  ago,  and  he  talked  so 
well  about  the  Constitution  that  I  was  at  a  loss  to  answer 
him." 

"  Me  jewel,  forbear,"  shouted  Donovan  ;  "  a  clout  on 
the  head  is  the  only  answer  for  them  Constitutionals. 
Niver  will  it  go  out  of  my  mind  about  the  time  I  was  last 
in  Cark  ;  shure,  then,  and  it  was  holiday-time  ;  and  me 
sister's  wife's  cousin,  young  Tim  O'Brady — Tim  says  to 
me,  *  Now,  Corkoran,  my  lad — '  ' 

il  Donovan,"  Nettlebones  suddenly  broke  in,  "  we  will 
have  that  story,  which,  I  can  see  by  the  cut  of  your  jib,  is 
too  good  to  be  hurried,  when  first  we  come  together  after 
business  done.  The  sun  will  be  down  in  less  than  half  an 
hour,  and  by  that  time  we  all  must  be  well  under  way.  We 
are  watched  from  the  land,  as  I  need  not  tell  you  ;  and  we 
must  not  let  them  spy  for  nothing.  They  shall  see  us  all 
stand  out  to  sea  to  catch  them  in  the  open,  as  I  said  in  the 
town-hall  of  Scarborough  yesterday,  on  purpose.  Every- 
body laughed  ;  but  I  stuck  to  it,  knowing  how  far  the  tale 
would  go.  They  take  it  for  a  crotchet  of  mine,  and  will 
expect  it,  especially  after  they  have  seen  us  standing  out  ; 
and  their  plans  will  be  laid  accordingly. ' ' 

11  The  head-piece  ye  have  is  beyont  me  inthirely.  And 
if  ye  stand  out,  how  will  ye  lay  close  inshore  ?" 

"  By  returning,  my  good  friend,  before  the  morning 
breaks  ;  eacli  man  to  his  station,  lying  as  close  as  can  be  by 
day,  with  proper  outlooks  hidden  at  the  points,  but  stand- 
ing along  the  coast  every  night,  and  communicating  with 
sentries.  Have  nothing  to  say  to  any  fishing-boats  ;  they 
are  nearly  all  spies,  and  that  puzzles  them.  This  Kobin 


2G8  MAKY   AKEELEY. 

Hood's  Bay  is  our  centre  for  the  present,  unless  there 
comes  change  of  weather.  Donovan's  beat  is  from  Whitby 
to  Teesmouth,  mine  from  Whitby  to  Scarborough,  and 
Bowler's  thence  to  Flamborough.  Carroway  goes  where 
he  likes,  of  course  ;  as  the  manner  of  the  man  is.  He  is  a 
little  in  the  doldrums  now,  and  likely  enough  to  come  med- 
dling. From  Flamborough  to  Hornsea  is  left  to  him,  and 
quite  as  much  as  he  can  manage.  Farther  south  there  is 
no  fear  ;  our  Yarmouth  men  will  see  to  that.  Now,  I  think 
that  you  quite  understand.  Good-by  ;  we  shall  nab  some 
of  them  to  a  certainty  this  time  ;  they  are  trying  it  on  too 
large  a  scale." 

"  If  they  runs  any  goods  through  me,  then  just  ye  may 
reckon  the  legs  of  me  four  times  over. ' ' 

"  And  if  they  slip  in  past  me,"  said  Bowler,  "  without 
a  thick  fog,  or  a  storm  that  drives  me  off,  I  will  believe 
more  than  all  the  wonders  told  of  Robin  Lyth." 

"  Oh,  concerning  that  fellow,  by  the  bye,"  Commander 
Nettlebones  stopped  his  brother  officers  as  they  were  making 
off  ;  ' i  you  know  what  a  point  poor  Carroway  has  made, 
even  before  I  was  sent  down  here,  of  catching  the  cele- 
brated Robin  for  himself.  He  has  even  let  his  fellows  fire 
at  him  once  or  twice  when  he  was  quietly  departing  ; 
although  we  are  not  allowed  to  shoot  except  upon  strenuous 
resistance.  Cannon  we  may  fire,  but  no  muskets,  accord- 
ing to  wise  ordinance.  Luckily  he  has  not  hit  him  yet  ; 
and,  upon  the  whole,  we  should  be  glad  of  it  ;  for  the 
young  fellow  is  a  prime  sailor,  as  you  know,  and  would 
make  fine  stuff  for  Nelson.  Therefore,  we  must  do  one 
thing  of  two — let  Carroway  catch  him,  and  get  the  money 
to  pay  for  all  the  breeches  and  the  petticoats  we  saw  ;  or  if 
we  catch  him  ourselves,  say  nothing,  but  draft  him  right  off 
to  the  Harpy.  You  understand  me.  It  is  below  us  to  get 
blood-money  upon  the  man.  We  are  gentlemen,  not  thief- 
catchers.  ' ' 

The  Irishman  agreed  to  this  at  once  ;  but  Bowler  was 
not  well  pleased  with  it.  "  Our  duty  is  to  give  him  up," 
he  said. 

* '  Your  duty  is  to  take  my  orders, ' '  answered  Nettlebones 
severely.  ' '  If  there  is  a  fuss  about  it  lay  the  blame  on  me. 


INLAND   OPINION.  2G9 

I  know  what  I  am  about  in  what  I  say.  Gentlemen,  good- 
by,  and  good  luck  to  you." 

After  long  shivers  in  teeth  of  the  wind,  and  pendulous 
labor  of  rolling,  the  three  cutters  joyfully  took  the  word  to 
go.  With  a  creak,  and  a  cant,  and  a  swish  of  canvas,  upon 
their  light  heels,  they  flew  round,  and  trembled  with  the 
eagerness  of  leaping  on  their  way.  The  taper  boom  dipped 
toward  the  running  hills  of  sea,  and  the  jib-foreleech  drew 
a  white  arc  against  the  darkness  of  the  sky  to  the  bowsprit's 
plunge.  Then,  as  each  keen  cut-water  clove  with  the  press- 
ure of  the  wind  upon  the  beam,  and  the  glistening  bends 
lay  over,  green  hurry  of  surges  streaked  with  gray  began 
the  quick  dance  along  them.  Away  they  went  merrily, 
scattering  the  brine,  and  leaving  broad  tracks  upon  the 
closing  sea. 

Away  also  went,  at  a  rapid  scamper,  three  men  who  had 
watched  them  from  the  breastwork  of  the  cliffs — one  went 
northward,  another  to  the  south,  and  the  third  rode  a  pony 
up  an  inland  lane.  Swiftly  as  the  cutters  flew  over  the  sea 
the  tidings  of  their  flight  took  wing  ashore,  and  before  the 
night  swallowed  up  their  distant  sails,  everybody  on  the 
land  whom  it  concerned  to  know  knew  as  well  as  their 
steersmen  what  course  they  had  laid. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

INLAND    OPINION. 

WHATEVER  may  be  said,  it  does  seem  hard,  from  a  wholly 
disinterested  point  of  view,  that  so  many  mighty  men,  with 
swift  ships,  armed  with  villainous  saltpetre  and  sharp  steel, 
should  have  set  their  keen  faces  all  together  and  at  once,  to 
nip,  defeat,  and  destroy,  as  with  a  blow,  liberal  and  well- 
conceived  proceedings,  which  they  had  long  regarded  with 
a  larger  mind.  Every  one  who  had  been  led  to  embark 
soundly  and  kindly  in  this  branch  of  trade  felt  it  as  an 
outrage  and  a  special  instance  of  his  own  peculiar  bad  luck 
that  suddenly  the  officers  should  become  so  active.  For 


270  MARY   AKERLEY. 

long  success  had  encouraged  enterprise  ;  men  who  had 
made  a  noble  profit  nobly  yearned  to  treble  it,  and  com- 
merce having  shaken  off  her  shackles,  flapped  her  wings, 
and  began  to  crow.;  so  at  least  she  had  been  declared  to  do, 
at  a  public  banquet  given  by  the  Mayor  of  Malton,  and 
attended  by  a  large  grain  factor,  who  was  known  as  a 
wholesale  purveyor  of  illicit  goods. 

This  man,  Thomas  Rideout,  long  had  been  the  head-mas- 
ter of  the  smuggling  school.  The  poor  seafaring  men 
could  not  find  money  to  buy  or  even  hire  the  craft  (with 
heavy  deposit  against  forfeiture),  which  the  breadth  and 
turbulence  of  the  North  Sea  made  needful  for  such  ventures. 
Across  the  narrow  English  Channel  an  open  lobster  boat 
might  run  in  common  summer  weather,  without  much  risk 
of  life  or  goods.  Smooth  water,  sandy  coves,  and  shelfy 
landings  tempted  comfortable  jobs  ;  and  any  man,  owning 
a  boat  that  would  carry  a  sail  as  big  as  a  shawl,  might 
smuggle,  with  heed  of  the  weather,  and  audacity.  It  is 
said  that,  once  upon  the  Sussex  coast,  a  band  of  haymakers, 
when  the  rick  was  done,  and  their  wages  in  hand  on  a  Sat- 
urday night,  laid  hold  of  a  stout  boat  on  the  beach,  pushed 
off  to  sea  in  tipsy  faith  of  luck,  and  hit  upon  Dieppe  with  a 
set-fair  breeze,  having  only  a  fisherman's  boy  for  guide. 
There  on  the  Sunday  they  heartily  enjoyed  the  hospitality 
of  the  natives  ;  and  the  dawn  of  Tuesday  beheld  them  rapt 
in  domestic  bliss  and  breakfast,  with  their  money  invested 
in  old  Cognac  ;  and  glad  would  they  have  been  to  make 
such  hay  every  season.  But  in  Yorkshire  a  good  solid  cap- 
ital was  needed  to  carry  on  free  importation.  Without 
broad  bottoms  and  deep  sides,  the  long  and  turbulent  and 
often  foggy  voyage,  and  the  rocky  landing,  could  scarcely 
be  attempted  by  sane  folk  ;  well-to-do  people  found  the 
money,  and  jeopardized  neither  their  own  bodies,  con- 
sciences, nor  good  repute.  And  perhaps  this  fact  had  more 
to  do  with  the  comparative  mildness  of  the  men  than 
difference  of  race,  superior  culture,  or  a  loftier  mould  of 
mind  ;  for  what  man  will  fight  for  his  employer's  goods 
with  the  ferocity  inspired  by  his  own  ?  A  thorough  good 
ducking,  or  a  tow  behind  a  boat,  was  the  utmost  penalty 
generally  exacted  by  the  victors  from  the  vanquished. 


INLAND  OPINION.  271 

Now,  however,  it  seemed  too  likely  that  harder  measure 
must  be  meted.  The  long  success  of  that  daring  Lyth,  and 
the  large  scale  of  his  operations,  had  compelled  the  author- 
ities to  stir  at  last.  They  began  by  setting  a  high  price 
upon  him,  and  severely  reprimanding  Carroway,  who  had 
long  been  doing  his  best  in  vain,  and  becoming  flurried  did 
it  more  vainly  still  ;  and  now  they  had  sent  the  sharp  Net- 
tlebones  down  ;  who  boasted  largely,  but  as  yet  without 
result.  The  smugglers,  however,  were  aware  of  added 
peril,  and  raised  their  wages  accordingly. 

When  the  pending  great  venture  was  resolved  upon,  as  a 
noble  finish  to  the  season,  Thomas  Rideout  would  intrust  it 
to  no  one  but  Robin  Lyth  himself  ;  and  the  bold  young 
mariner  stipulated  that  after  succeeding  he  should  be  free, 
and  started  in  some  more  lawful  business.  For  Dr.  Up- 
round,  possessing  as  he  did  great  influence  with  Robin,  and 
shocked  as  he  was  by  what  Carroway  had  said,  refused  to 
have  anything  more  to  do  with  his  most  distinguished  par- 
ishioner until  he  should  forsake  his  ways.  And  for  this 
he  must  not  be  thought  narrow-minded,  straitlaced,  or 
unduly  dignified.  His  wife  quite  agreed  with  him,  and,  in- 
deed, had  urged  it  as  the  only  proper  course  ;  for  her 
motherly  mind  was  uneasy  about  the  impulsive  nature  of 
Janetta  ;  and  chessmen  to  her  were  dolls,  without  even  the 
merit  of  encouraging  the  needle.  Therefore,  with  a  deep 
sigh,  the  worthy  magistrate  put  away  his  board — which 
came  out  again  next  day — and  did  his  best  to  endure  for  a 
night  the  arithmetical  torture  of  cribbage  ;  while  he  found 
himself  supported  by  a  sense  of  duty,  and  capable  of  preach- 
ing hard  at  Carroway,  if  he  would  only  come  for  it  on  Sun- 
day. 

From  that  perhaps  an  officer  of  revenue  may  abstain, 
through  the  pressure  of  his  duty  and  his  purity  of  conscience; 
but  a  man  of  less  correctness  must  behave  more  strictly. 
Therefore,  when  a  gentleman  of  vigorous  aspect,  resolute 
step,  and  successful-looking  forehead,  marched  into  church 
the  next  Sunday  morning,  showed  himself  into  a  prominent 
position,  and  hung  his  hat  against  a  leading  pillar,  after  put- 
ting his  mouth  into  it,  as  if  for  prayer,  but  scarcely  long 
enough  to  say  "  Amen" — behind  other  hats  low  whispers 


272  MARY   AKERLEY. 

passed  that  here  was  the  great  financier  of  free-trade,  the 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer  of  smuggling,  the  celebrated 
Master  Rideout. 

That  conclusion  was  shared  by  the  rector,  whose  heart 
immediately  burned  within  him  to  have  at  this  man,  whom 
he  had  met  before  and  suspiciously  glanced  at  in  Weighing 
Lane,  as  an  interloper  in  his  parish.  Probably  this  was  the 
very  man  whom  Robin  Lyth  served  too  faithfully  ;  and  the 
chances  were  that  the  great  operations,  now  known  to  be 
pending,  had  brought  him  hither,  spying  out  all  Flambor- 
ough.  The  corruption  of  fish-folk,  the  beguiling  of  women 
with  foreign  silks  and  laces,  and  of  men  with  brandy,  the 
seduction  of  Robin  from  lawful  commerce,  and  even  the  loss 
of  his  own  pet  pastime,  were  to  be  laid  at  this  man's  door. 
While  donning  his  surplice,  Dr.  Upround  revolved  these 
things  with  gentle  indignation,  quickened,  as  soon  as  he 
found  himself  in  white,  by  clerical  and  theological  zeal. 
These  feelings  impelled  him  to  produce  a  creaking  of  the 
heavy  vestry-door,  a  well-known  signal  for  his  daughter  to 
slip  out  of  the  chancel-pew,  and  come  to  him. 

"  Now,  papa,  what  is  it  ?"  cried  that  quick  young  lady  ; 
"  that  miserable  Methodist,  that  ruined  your  boots,  has  he 
got  the  impudence  to  come  again  ?  Oh,  please  do  say  so, 
and  show  me  where  he  is  ;  after  church  nobody  shall  stop 
me — " 

"  Janetta,  you  quite  forget  where  you  are,  as  well  as  my 
present  condition.  Be  off  like  a  good  girl,  as  quick  as  you 
can,  and  bring  No.  27  of  my  own  handwriting — i  Render 
unto  Caesar ' — and  put  my  hat  upon  it.  My  desire  is  that 
Billyjack  should  not  know  that  a  change  has  been  made  in 
my  subject  of  discourse. ' ' 

4  i  Papa,  I  see  ;  it  shall  be  done  to  perfection,  while  Billy- 
jack  is  at  his  very  loudest  roar  in  the  chorus  of  the  anthem. 
But  do  tell  me  who  it  is  ;  or  how  can  I  enjoy  it  ?  And 
Icrnon-drops — lemon-drops — ' ' 

"  Janetta,  I  must  have  some  very  serious  talk  with  you. 
Now  don't  be  vexed,  darling  ;  you  are  a  thoroughly  good 
girl,  only  thoughtless  and  careless  ;  and  remember,  dear, 
church  is  not  a  place  for  high  spirits." 

The  rector,  as  behooved  him,  kissed  his  child  behind  the 


IKLAKD   OPLtflOtf.  273 


vestry-door,  to  soothe  all  sting,  and  then  he  strode  forth 
toward  the  reading-desk  ;  and  the  tuning  of  fiddles  sank  to 
deferential  scrape. 

It  was  not  at  all  a  common  thing,  as  one  might  know,  for 
Widow  Precious  to  be  able  to  escape  from  casks  and  taps, 
and  the  frying-pan  of  eggs  demanded  by  some  half-drowned 
fisherman,  also  the  reckoning  of  notches  on  the  bench  for 
the  pints  of  the  week  unpaid  for,  and  then  to  put  herself 
into  her  two  best  gowns  (which  she  wore  in  the  winter,  one 
over  the  other  —  a  plan  to  be  highly  commended  to  ladies 
who  never  can  have  dress  enough),  and  so  to  enjoy,  without 
losing  a  penny,  the  warmth  of  the  neighborhood  of  a  con- 
gregation. In  the  afternoon  she  could  hardly  ever  do  it, 
even  if  she  had  so  wished,  with  knowledge  that  this  was 
common  people's  time  ;  so  if  she  went  at  all,  it  must  —  in 
spite  of  the  difference  of  length  —  be  managed  in  the  morn- 
ing. And  this  very  morning  here  she  was,  earnest,  hum- 
ble, and  devout,  with  both  the  tap-keys  in  her  pocket,  and 
turning  the  leaves  with  a  smack  of  her  thumb,  not  only  to 
show  her  learning,  but  to  get  the  sweet  approval  of  the  rec- 
tor's pew. 

Now,  if  the  good  rector  had  sent  for  this  lady,  instead  of 
his  daughter  Janetta,  the  sermon  which  he  brought  would 
have  been  the  one  to  preach,  and  '  that  about  Caesar  might 
have  stopped  at  home  ;  for  no  sooner  did  the  widow  begin 
to  look  about,  taking  in  the  congregation  with  a  dignified 
eye,  and  nodding  to  her  solvent  customers,  than  the  wrath 
of  perplexity  began  to  gather  on  her  goodly  countenance. 
To  see  that  distinguished  stranger  was  to  know  him  ever 
afterward  ;  his  power  of  eating  and  of  paying  had  en- 
deared his  memory  ;  and  for  him  to  put  up  at  any  other 
house  were  foul  shame  to  the  4<  Cod  Fish." 

u  Hath  a7  put  up  his  beastie  ?"  she  whispered  to  her 
eldest  daughter,  who  came  in  late. 

"  Naa,  naa,  no  beastie,"  the  child  replied  ;  and  the 
widow's  relish  of  her  thumb  was  gone  ;  for,  sooth  to  say, 
no  Master  Rideout,  nor  any  other  patron  of  free-trade  was 
here,  but  Geoffrey  Mordacks,  of  York  city,  general  factor, 
and  universal  agent. 

It  was  beautiful  to  see  how  Dr.  Upround,  firmly  deliver- 
18 


274  MAKY   AHERLEY. 

ing  his  text,  and  stoutly  determined  to  spare  nobody,  even 
insisted  in  the  present  case  upon  looking  at  the  man  he 
meant  to  hit,  because  he  was  not  his  parishioner.  The  ser- 
mon was  eloquent,  and  even  trenchant.  The  necessity  of 
duties  was  urged  most  sternly  ;  if  not  of  directly  divine  in- 
stitution (though  learned  parallels  were  adduced,  which 
almost  proved  them  to  be  so),  yet  to  every  decent  Christian 
citizen  they  were  synonymous  with  duty.  To  defy  or  elude 
them,  for  the  sake  of  paltry  gain,  was  a  dark  crime  recoiling 
on  the  criminal  ;  and  the  preacher  drew  a  contrast  between 
such  guilty  ways  and  the  innocent  path  of  the  fisherman. 
Neither  did  he  even  relent  and  comfort,  according  to  his 
custom,  toward  the  end  ;  that  part  was  there,  but  he  left  it 
out  ;  and  the  only  consolation  for  any  poor  smuggler  in  all 
the  discourse,  was  the  final  "  Amen." 

But  to  the  rector's  great  amazement,  and  inward  indig- 
nation, the  object  of  his  sermon  seemed  to  take  it  as  a  per- 
sonal compliment.  Mr.  Mordacks  not  only  failed  to  wince, 
but  finding  himself  particularly  fixed  by  the  gaze  of  the  elo- 
quent divine,  concluded  that  it  was  from  his  superior  intelli- 
gence, and  visible  gifts  of  appreciation.  Delighted  with 
this,  for  he  was  not  free  from  vanity,  what  did  he  do  but 
return  the  compliment,  not  indecorously,  but  nodding  very 
gently,  as  much  as  to  say,  "  That  was  very  good  indeed  ; 
you  were  quite  right,  sir,  in  addressing  that  to  me  ;  you 
perceive  that  it  is  far  above  these  common  people.  I  never 
heard  a  better  sermon." 

"  What  a  hardened  rogue  you  are  !"  thought  Dr.  Up- 
round  ;  "  how  feebly  and  incapably  I  must  have  put  it  ! 
If  you  ever  come  again,  you  shall  have  my  Ahab  ser- 


mon." 


But  the  clergyman  was  still  more  astonished  a  very  few 
minutes  afterward.  For  as  he  passed  out  of  the  church- 
yard-gate, receiving,  with  his  wife  and  daughter,  the  kindly 
salute  of  the  parish,  the  same  tall  stranger  stood  before  him, 
with  a  face  as  hard  as  a  statue's,  and,  making  a  short,  quick 
flourish  with  his  hat,  begged  for  the  honor  of  shaking  his 
hand. 

"  Sir,  it  is  to  thank  you  for  the  very  finest  sermon  I  ever 
had  the  privilege  of  hearing.  My  name  is  Mordacks,  and  I 


INLAND   OPINION.  275 

flatter  nobody — except  myself,  that  I  know  a  good  thing 
when  I  get  it." 

4'  Sir,  I  am  obliged  to  you,"  said  Dr.  Upround  stiffly, 
and  not  without  suspicion  of  being  bantered,  so  dry  was  the 
stranger's  countenance,  and  his  manner  so  peculiar  ;  "  and 
if  I  have  been  enabled  to  say  a  good  word  in  season,  and 
its  season  lasts,  it  will  be  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  me. ' ' 

"  Yes,  I  fear  there  are  many  smugglers  here.  But  I  am 
no  revenue-officer,  as  your  congregation  seemed  to  think. 
May  I  call  upon  business  to-morrow,  sir  ?  Thank  you  ; 
then  may  I  say  ten  o'clock — your  time  of  beginning,  as  I 
hear  ?  Mordacks  is  my  name,  sir,  of  York  city,  not  un- 
favorably known  there.  Ladies,  my  duty  to  you  !" 

"  What  an  extraordinary  man,  my  dear  !"  Mrs.  Up- 
round  exclaimed,  with  some  ingratitude,  after  the  beautiful 
bow  she  had  received.  "  He  may  talk  as  he  likes  ;  but  he 
must  be  a  smuggler.  He  said  that  he  was  not  an  officer  ; 
that  shows  it,  for  they  always  run  into  the  opposite  extreme. 
You  have  converted  him,  my  dear  ;  and  I  am  sure  that 
we  ought  to  be  so  much  obliged  to  him.  If  he  comes  to- 
morrow morning,  to  give  up  all  his  lace,  do  try  to  remem- 
ber how  my  little  all  has  been  ruined  in  the  wash,  and  I  am 
sick  of  working  at  it. ' ' 

"  My  dear,  he  is  no  smuggler.  I  begin  to  recollect.  He 
was  down  here  in  the  summer  ;  and  I  made  a  great  mis- 
take. I  took  him  for  Rideout ;  and  I  did  the  same  to-day. 
When  I  see  him  to-morrow,  I  shall  beg  his  pardon.  One 
gets  so  hurried  in  the  vestry  always  ;  they  are  so  impatient 
with  their  fiddles  !  A  great  deal  of  it  was  Janetta's 
fault." 

"  It  always  is  my  fault,  papa,  somehow  or  other,"  the 
young  lady  answered,  with  a  faultless  smile  ;  and  so  they 
went  home  to  the  early  Sunday  dinner. 

"  Papa,  I  am  in  such  a  state  of  excitement  ;  I  am  quite 
unfit  to  go  to  church  this  afternoon,"  Miss  Upround 
exclaimed,  as  they  set  forth  again.  "  You  may  put  me  in 
stocks  made  out  of  hassocks — you  may  rope  me  to  the  Flod- 
den  Field  man's  monument,  of  the  ominous  name  of  '  Con- 
stable ; '  but  whatever  you  do,  I  shall  never  attend  ;  and  I 
feel  that  it  is  so  sinful." 


276  MARY  A^EKLEY. 

"  Janetta,  your  mamma  has  that  feeling  sometimes  for; 
instance,  she  has  it  this  afternoon  ;  and  there  is  a  good  deal 
to  be  said  for  it.  But  I  fear  that  it  would  grow  with  in- 
dulgence " 

"  I  can  firmly  fancy  that  it  never  would  ;  though  one 
cannot  be  sure  without  trying.  Suppose  that  I  were  to  try 
it  just  once,  and  let  you  know  how  it  feels  at  tea-time. " 

"  My  dear,  we  are  quite  round  the  corner  of  the  lane  ! 
The  example  would  be  too  shocking. " 

"  Now,  don't  you  make  any  excuses,  papa.  Only  one 
woman  can  have  seen  us  yet  ;  and  she  is  so  blind,  she  will 
think  it  was  her  fault.  May  I  go  ?  Quick,  before  any  one 
else  comes." 

"  If  you  are  quite  sure,  Janetta,  of  being  in  a  frame  of 
mind  which  unfits  you  for  the  worship  of  your  Maker — ' ' 

* '  As  sure  as  a  pike-staff,  dear  papa. ' ' 

44  Then,  by  all  means,  go  before  anybody  sees  you,  for 
whom  it  might  be  undesirable  ;  and  correct  your  thoughts, 
and  endeavor  to  get  into  a  befitting  state  of  mind  by  tea- 
time." 

"  Certainly,  papa.  I  will  go  down  on  the  stones,  and 
look  at  the  sea.  That  always  makes  me  better  ;  because  it 
is  so  large  and  so  uncomfortable. ' J 

The  rector  went  on  to  do  his  duty,  by  himself.  A  nar- 
row-minded man  might  have  shaken  solemn  head,  even  if 
he  had  allowed  such  dereliction.  But  Dr.  Upround  knew 
that  the  girl  was  good,  and  he  never  put  strain  upon  her 
honesty.  So  away  she  sped  by  a  lonely  little  foot-path, 
where  nobody  could  take  from  her  contagion  of  bad 
morals  ;  and,  avoiding  the  incline  of  boats,  she  made  off 
nicely  for  the  quiet  outer  bay,  and  there,  upon  a  shelfy  rock, 
she  sat  and  breathed  the  sea. 

Flamborough,  excellent  place  as  it  is,  and  delightful  and 
full  of  interest  for  people  who  do  not  live  there  is  apt  to 
grow  dull  perhaps  for  spirited  youth  in  the  scanty  and 
foggy  winter  light.  There  is  not  so  very  much  of  that 
choice  product  generally  called  "  society"  by  a  man  who 
has  a  house  to  let  in  an  eligible  neighborhood,  and  by  ladies 
who  do  not  heed  their  own.  Moreover,  it  is  vexatious  not 
to  have  more  rogues  to  talk  about. 


INLAND   OPINION.  277 

That  scarcity  may  be  less  lamentable  now,  being  one  that 
takes  care  to  redress  itself,  and  perhaps  any  amateur  pur- 
chaser of  fish  may  find  rogues  enough  now  for  his  interest. 
But  the  rector's  daughter  pined  for  neither  society  nor  scan- 
dal :  she  had  plenty  of  interest  in  her  life  and  in  pleasing 
other  people  whenever  she  could  do  it  with  pleasure  to  her- 
self, and  that  was  nearly  always.  Her  present  ailment  was 
not  languor,  weariness,  or  dulness,  but  rather  the  want  of  such 
things  ;  which  we  long  for  when  they  happen  to  be  scarce, 
and  declare  them  to  be  our  first  need,  under  the  sweet  name 
of  repose. 

Her  mind  was  a  little  disturbed  by  rumors,  wonders,  and 
uncertainty.  She  was  not  at  all  in  love  with  Robin  Lyth, 
and  laughed  at  his  vanity  quite  as  much  as  she  admired  his 
gallantry.  She  looked  upon  him  also  as  of  lower  rank, 
kindly  patronized  by  her  father,  but  not  to  be  treated  as 
upon  an  equal  footing.  He  might  be  of  any  rank  for  all 
that  was  known  ;  but  he  must  be  taken  to  belong  to  those 
who  had  brought  him  up  and  fed  him.  Janetta  was  a 
lively  girl  of  quick  perception  and  some  discretion,  though 
she  often  talked  much  nonsense.  She  was  rather  proud  of 
her  position,  and  somewhat  disdainful  of  uneducated  folk  ; 
though  (thanks  to  her  father)  Lyth  was  not  one  of  these. 
Possibly  love  (if  she  had  felt  it)  would  have  swept  away 
such  barriers  ;  but  Robin  was  grateful  to  his  patron,  and, 
knowing  his  own  place  in  life,  would  rightly  have  thought  it 
a  mean  return  to  attempt  to  inveigle  the  daughter.  So 
they  liked  one  another — but  nothing  more.  It  was  not, 
therefore,  for  his  sake  only,  but  for  her  father's,  and  that  of 
the  place,  that  Miss  Upround  now  was  anxious.  For  days 
and  days  she  had  watched  the  sea  with  unusual  forebodings, 
knowing  that  a  great  importation  was  toward,  and  pretty 
sure  to  lead  to  blows,  after  so  much  preparation.  With 
feminine  zeal,  she  detested  poor  Carroway,  whom  she  re- 

farded  as  a  tyrant  and  a  spy  ;  and  she  would  have  clapped 
er  hands  at  beholding  the  three  cruisers  run  upon  a  shoal, 
and  there  stick  fast.  And  as  for  King  George,  she  had 
never  believed  that  he  was  the  proper  king  of  England. 
There  were  many  stanch  Jacobites  still  in  Yorkshire,  and 
especially  the  bright  young  ladies. 


278  MARY   AKERLEY. 

To-night,  at  least,  the  coast  was  likely  to  be  uninvaded. 
Smugglers,  even  if  their  own  forces  would  make  breach 
upon  the  day  of  rest,  durst  not  outrage  the  piety  of  the 
land,  which  would  only  deal  with  kegs  indoors.  The  coast- 
guard, being  for  the  most  part  southerns,  splashed  about  as 
usual — a  far  more  heinous  sin  against  the  Word  of  God 
than  smuggling.  It  is  the  manner  of  Yorkshiremen  to 
think  for  themselves,  with  boldness,  in  the  way  they  are 
brought  up  to  ;  and  they  made  it  a  point  of  serious  doubt 
whether  the  orders  of  the  king  himself  could  set  aside  the 
Fourth  Commandment,  though  his  arms  were  over  it. 

Dr.  TJpround's  daughter,  as  she  watched  the  sea,  felt 
sure  that,  even  if  the  goods  were  ready,  no  attempt  at  land- 
ing would  be  made  that  night,  though  something  might  be 
done  in  the  morning.  But  even  that  was  not  very  likely  ; 
because  (as  seemed  to  be  widely  known)  the  venture  was  a 
very  large  one,  and  the  landers  would  require  a  whole 
night's  work  to  get  entirely  through  with  it. 

"  I  wish  it  was  over,  one  way  or  the  other,"  she  kept  on 
saying  to  herself,  as  she  gazed  at  the  dark  weary  lifting  of 
the  sea  ;  "  it  keeps  one  unsettled  as  the  waves  themselves. 
Sunday  always  makes  me  feel  restless,  because  there  is  so 
little  to  do.  It  is  wicked,  I  suppose  ;  but  how  can  I  help 
it  ?  Why,  there  is  a  boat,  I  do  declare  !  Well,  even  a 
boat  is  welcome,  just  to  break  this  gray  monotony.  What 
boat  can  it  be  ?  None  of  ours,  of  course.  And  what  can 
they  want  with  our  Church  Cave  ?  I  hope  they  understand 
its  dangers." 

Although  the  wind  was  not  upon  the  shore,  and  no  long 
rollers  were  setting  in,  short,  uncomfortable,  clumsy  waves 
were  lolloping  under  the  steep  gray  cliffs,  and  casting  up 
splashes  of  white  here  and  there.  To  enter  that  cave  is  a 
risky  thing,  except  at  very  favorable  times,  and  even  then 
some  experience  is  needed,  for  the  rocks  around  it  are  like 
knives,  and  the  boat  must  generally  be  backed  in,  with 
more  use  of  fender  and  hook  than  of  oars.  But  the  people 
in  the  boat  seemed  to  understand  all  that.  There  were  two 
men  rowing,  and  one  steering  with  an  oar,  and  a  fourth 
standing  up,  as  if  to  give  directions  ;  though  in  truth  he 
knew  nothing  about  it,  but  hated  even  to  seem  to  play 
second  fiddle. 


INLAND   OPINION.  279 

"  Wliat  a  strange  thing  !"  Janetta  thought,  as  she  drew 
behind  a  rock  that  they  might  not  see  her.  "  I  could 
almost  declare  that  the  man  standing  up  is  that  most  extra- 
ordinary gentleman  papa  preached  quite  the  wrong  sermon 
at.  Truly,  he  deserves  the  Ahab  one,  for  spying  our  caves 
out  on  a  Sunday.  He  must  be  a  smuggler,  after  all,  or  a 
very  crafty  agent  of  the  revenue.  Well,  I  never  !  That 
old  man  steering,  as  sure  as  I  live,  is  Robin  Cockscroft,  by 
the  scarlet  handkerchief  round  his  head.  Oh,  Robin, 
Robin  !  could  I  ever  have  believed  that  you  would  break 
the  Sabbath  so  ?  But  the  boat  is  not  Robin's.  What  boat 
can  it  be  ?  I  have  not  stayed  away  from  church  for  noth- 
ing. One  of  the  men  rowing  has  got  no  legs,  when  the 
boat  goes  up  and  down.  It  must  be  that  villain  of  a  tipsy 
Joe,  who  used  to  keep  the  Monument.  I  heard  that  he  was 
come  back  again,  to  stump  for  his  beer  as  usual  ;  and  his 
son,  that  sings  like  the  big  church-bell,  and  has  such  a  very 
fine  face  and  one  leg — why  he  is  the  man  that  pulls  the 
other  oar.  Was  there  ever  such  a  boat-load  ?  But  they 
know  what  they  are  doing. ' ' 

Truly  it  was,  as  the  young  lady  said,  an  extraordinary 
boat's  crew.  Old  Robin  Cockscroft,  with  a  fringe  of  silver 
hair  escaping  from  the  crimson  silk,  which  he  valued  so 
much  more  than  it,  and  his  face  still  grand  (in  spite  of 
wrinkles  and  some  weakness  of  the  eyes),  keenly  under- 
standing every  wave,  its  character,  temper,  and  complexity 
of  influence  ;  as  only  a  man  can  understand  who  has  for 
his  life  stood  over  them.  Then,  tugging  at  the  oars,  or 
rather  dipping  them  with  a  short  well-practised  plunge,  and 
very  little  toil  of  body,  two  ancient  sailors,  one  consider- 
ably older  than  the  other,  inasmuch  as  he  was  his  father,  yet 
chips  alike  from  a  sturdy  block,  and  fitted  up  with  jury- 
stumps.  Old  Joe  pulled  rather  the  better  oar,  and  called 
his  son  "  a  one-legged  fiddler"  when  he  missed  the  dip  of 
wave  ;  while  Mordacks  stood  with  his  legs  apart,  and  play- 
ing the  easy  part  of  critic,  had  his  sneers  at  both  of  them. 
But  they  let  him  gibe  to  his  liking  ;  because  they  knew 
their  work,  and  he  did  not.  And,  upon  the  whole,  they 
went  merrily. 

The  only  one  with  any  doubt  concerning  the  issue  of  the 


280  MAKY   ANERLEY. 

job  was  the  one  who  knew  most  about  it,  and  that  was 
Robin  Cockscroft.  He  doubted  not  about  want  of  strength, 
or  skill,  or  discipline  of  his  oars,  but  because  the  boat  was 
not  Flamburian,  but  borrowed  from  a  collier  round  the 
Head.  No  Flamborough  boat  would  ever  think  of  putting 
to  sea  on  a  Sunday,  unless  it  were  to  save  human  life  ;  and 
it  seemed  to  him  that  no  strange  boat  could  find  her  way 
into  the  native  caves.  He  doubted  also  whether,  even 
with  the  pressure  of  strong  motive  put  upon  him,  which 
was  not  of  money,  it  was  a  godly  thing  on  his  part  to  be 
steering  in  his  Sunday  clothes  ;  and  he  feared  to  hear  of  it 
thereafter.  But,  being  in  for  it,  he  must  do  his  utmost. 

With  genuine  skill  and  solid  patience,  the  entrance  of  the 
cave  was  made,  and  the  boat  was  lost  to  Janetta's  view. 
She  as  well  was  lost  in  the  deeper  cavern  of  great  wonder, 
and  waited  long,  and  much  desired  to  wait  even  longer,  to 
see  them  issue  forth  again,  and  learn  what  they  could  have 
been  after.  But  the  mist,  out  of  which  they  had  come, 
and  inside  of  which  they  would  rather  have  remained 
perhaps,  now  thickened  over  land  and  sea,  and  groping 
dreamily  for  something  to  lay  hold  of,  found  a  solid 
stay  and  resthold  in  the  jagged  headlands  here.  Here 
accordingly  the  coilings  of  the  wandering  forms  began  to 
slide  into  strait  layers,  and  soft  settlement  of  vapor.  Loops 
of  hanging  moisture  marked  the  hollows  of  the  land-front, 
or  the  alleys  of  the  waning  light  ;  and  then  the  mass  aban- 
doned outline  fused  its  shades  to  pulp,  and  melted  into  one 
great  blur  of  rain.  Janetta  thought  of  her  Sunday  frock, 
forgot  the  boat,  and  sped  away  for  home. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

TACTICS     OF     ATTACK. 


u  I  AM  sorry  to  be  troublesome,  Mynheer  Van  Dunck  ; 
but  I  cannot  say  good-by  without  having  your  receipt  in 
full  for  the  old  bilander. " 

11  Goot,  it  is  vere  goot,  Meester  Lyth  ;  you  are  te  goot 
man  for  te  pisness. ' ' 


TACTICS   OF   ATTACK.  281 

With  these  words  the  wealthy  merchant  of  the  Zuyder 
Zee  drew  forth  his  ancient  ink-horn,  smeared  with  the  dirt 
of  countless  contracts,  and  signed  an  acquittance  which  the 
smuggler  had  prepared.  But  he  signed  it  with  a  sigh,  as  a 
man  declares  that  a  favorite  horse  must  go  at  last  ;  sighing 
not  for  the  money,  but  the  memories  that  go  with  it. 
Then  as  the  wind  began  to  pipe,  and  the  roll  of  the  sea  grew 
heavier,  the  solid  Dutchman  was  lowered  carefully  into  his 
shore- boat,  and  drew  the  apron  over  his  great  and  gouty  legs. 

"  I  vos  married  in  dat  zhips, "  he  shouted  back,  with  his 
ponderous  fist  wagging  up  at  Robin  Lyth.  u  Dis  taime 
you  will  have  de  bad  luck,  sir. ' ' 

u  Well,  Mynheer,  you  have  only  to  pay  the  difference, 
and  the  ketch  will  do  ;  the  bilander  sails  almost  as  fast." 

But  Master  Van  Dunck  only  heaved  another  sigh,  and 
felt  that  his  leather  bag  was  safe  and  full  in  his  breeches- 
pocket.  Then  he  turned  his  eyes  away,  and  relieved  his 
mind  by  swearing  at  his  men. 

Now,  this  was  off  the  Isle  of  Texel,  and  the  time  was  Sun- 
day morning,  the  very  same  morning  which  saw  the  general 
factor  sitting  to  be  preached  at.  The  flotilla  of  free -trade 
was  putting  forth  upon  its  great  emprise,  and  Van  Dtinck 
(who  had  been  ship's  husband)  came  to  speed  them  from 
their  moorings. 

He  took  no  risk,  and  to  him  it  mattered  little,  except  as 
a  question  of  commission  ;  but  still  he  enjoyed  the  relish 
of  breaking  English  law  most  heartily.  He  hated  England, 
as  a  loyal  Dutchman,  for  generations,  was  compelled  to  do  ; 
and  he  held  that  a  Dutchman  was  a  better  sailor,  a  better 
ship-builder,  and  a  better  fighter  than  the  very  best  Eng- 
lishman ever  born.  However,  his  opinions  matter  little, 
being  (as  we  must  feel)  absurd.  Therefore  let  him  go  his 
way,  and  grumble,  and  reckon  his  guilders.  It  was  gener- 
ally known  that  he  could  sink  a  ship  with  money  ;  and  when 
such  a  man  is  insolent,  who  dares  to  contradict  him  ? 

The  flotilla  in  the  offing  soon  ploughed  hissing  furrows 
through  the  misty  waves.  There  were  three  craft,  all  of 
different  rig — a  schooner,  a  ketch,  and  the  said  bilander. 
All  were  laden  as  heavily  as  speed  and  safety  would  allow, 
and  all  were  thoroughly  well-manned.  They  laid  their 


282  MAEY   AKEELEY. 

course  for  the  Dogger  Bank,  where  they  would  receive  the 
latest  news  of  the  disposition  of  the  enemy.  Robin  Lyth, 
high  admiral  of  smugglers,  kept  to  his  favorite  schooner, 
the  Glimpse,  which  had  .often  shown  a  fading  wake  to 
fastest  cutters.  His  squadron  was  made  up  by  the  ketch 
Good  Hope,  and  the  old  Dutch  coaster  Crown  of  Gold. 
This  vessel,  though  built  for  peaceful  navigation  and  inland 
waters,  had  proved  herself  so  thoroughly  at  home  in  the 
roughest  situations,  and  so  swift  of  foot,  though  round  of 
cheek,  that  the  smugglers  gloried  in  her  and  the  good  luck 
which  sat  upon  her  prow.  They  called  her  ' i  the  lugger, ' ' 
though  her  rig  was  widely  different  from  that,  and  her  due 
title  was  "  bilander. "  She  was  very  deeply  laden  now, 
and,  having  great  capacity,  appeared  an  unusually  tempting 
prize. 

This  grand  armada  of  invasion  made  its  way  quite  lei- 
surely. Off  the  Dogger  Bank  they  waited  for  the  last  news, 
and  received  it,  and  the  whole  of  it  was  to  their  liking  ; 
though  the  fisherman  who  brought  it  strongly  advised  them 
to  put  back  again.  But  Captain  Lyth  had  no  such  thought, 
for  the  weather  was  most  suitable  for  the  bold  scheme  he  had 
hit  upon.  "  This  is  my  last  run,"  he  said,  "  and  I  mean 
to  make  it  a  good  one."  Then  he  dressed  himself  as 
smartly  as  if  he  were  going  to  meet  Mary  Anerley,  and  sent 
a  boat  for  the  skippers  of  the  Good  Hope  and  the  Crown 
of  Gold,  who  came  very  promptly  and  held  counsel  in  his 
cabin. 

"  I'm  thinking  that  your  notion  is  a  very  good  one,  cap- 
tain," said  the  master  of  the  bilander,  Brown,  a  dry  old 
hand  from  Grimsby. 

"  Capital,  capital  ;  there  never  was  a  better,"  the  mas- 
ter of  the  ketch  chimed  in.  "  Nettlebones  and  Carroway — 
they  will  knock  their  heads  together  !" 

"  The  plan  is  clever  enough,"  replied  Robin,  who  was 
free  from  all  mock-modesty.  "  But  you  heard  what  that 
old  Van  Dunck  said.  I  wish  he  had  not  said  it." 

"  Ten  tousan'  tuyfels — as  the  stingy  old  thief  himself 
says — he  might  have  held  his  infernal  croak.  I  hate  to 
make  sail  with  a  croak  astern,  'tis  as  bad  as  a  crow  on  fore- 
stay-sail.  ' ' 


TACTICS   OF   ATTACK.  283 

"  All  very  fine  for  you  to  talk/7  grumbled  the  man  of 
the  bilander  to  the  master  of  the  ketch  ;  44  but  the  bad 
luck  is  saddled  upon  me  this  voyage.  You  two  get  the 
gilgoes,  and  I  the  bilboes  !" 

44  Brown,  none  of  that  !"  Captain  Lyth  said  quietly,  but 
with  a  look  which  the  other  understood  ;  4 '  you  are  not  such 
a  fool  as  you  pretend  to  be.  You  may  get  a  shot  or  two 
fired  at  you  ;  but  what  is  that  to  a  Grimsby  man  ?  And 
who  will  look  at  you  when  your  hold  is  broached  ?  Your 
game  is  the  easiest  that  any  man  can  play — to  hold  your 
tongue  and  run  away. ' ' 

44  Brown,  you  share  the  profits,  don't  you  see  ?"  the 
ketchman  went  on,  while  the  other  looked  glum  ;  '4  and 
what  risk  do  you  take  for  it  ?  Even  if  they  collar  you, 
through  your  own  clumsiness,  what  is  there  for  them  to 
do  ?  A  Grimsby  man  is  a  grumbling  man,  I  have  heard 
ever  since  I  was  that  high.  I'll  change  berths  with  you,  if 
you  choose,  this  minute." 

44  You  could  never  do  it,"  said  the  Grimsby  man,  with 
that  high  contempt  which  abounds  where  he  was  born  ;  44  a 
boy  like  you  !  I  should  like  to  see  you  try  it." 

4  4  Remember,  both  of  you, ' '  said  Robin  Lyth,  4  i  that  you 
are  not  here  to  do  as  you  please,  but  to  obey  my  orders. 
If  the  coast-guard  quarrel,  we  do  not  ;  and  that  is  why  we 
beat  them.  You  will  both  do  exactly  as  1  have  laid  it 
down  ;  and  the  risk  of  failure  falls  on  me.  The  plan  is 
very  simple,  and  cannot  fail,  if  you  will  just  try  not  to 
think  for  yourselves,  which  always  makes  everything  go 
wrong.  The  only  thing  you  have  to  think  about  at  all  is 
any  sudden  change  of  weather.  If  a  gale  from  the  east 
sets  in,  you  both  run  north,  and  I  come  after  you.  But 
there  will  not  be  any  easterly  gale  for  the  present  week,  to 
my  belief  ;  although  I  am  not  quite  sure  of  it." 

44  Not  a  sign  of  it.  Wind  will  hold  with  sunset,  up  to 
next  quarter  of  the  moon." 

44  The  time  I  ha'  been  on  the  coast,"  said  Brown,  44  and 
to  hear  the  young  chaps  talking  over  my  head  !  Never 
you  mind  how  I  know,  but  I'll  lay  a  guinea  with  both  of 
you — easterly  gale  afore  Friday. ' ' 

44  Brown,  you  may  be  right,"  said  Robin  ;  44  I  have  had 


284  MARY   AKERLEY. 

some  fear  of  it,  and  I  know  that  you  carry  a  weather  eye. 
No  man  under  forty  can  pretend  to  that.  But  if  it  will 
only  hold  off  till  Friday,  we  shall  have  the  laugh  of  it. 
And  even  if  it  come  on,  Tom  and  I  shall  manage.  But 
you  will  be  badly  off  in  that  case,  Brown.  After  all,  you 
are  right  ;  the  main  danger  is  for  y ou. ' ' 

Lyth,  knowing  well  how  important  it  was  that  each  man 
should  play  his  part  with  true  good  will,  shifted  his  ground 
thus  to  satisfy  the  other,  who  was  not  the  man  to  shrink 
from  peril,  but  liked  to  have  his  share  acknowledged. 

"  Ay,  ay,  captain,  you  see  clear  enough,  though  Tom 
here  has  not  got  the  gumption,"  the  man  of  Grimsby 
answered  with  a  lofty  smile.  "  Everybody  knows  pretty 
well  what  William  Brown  is.  When  there  is  anything  that 
needs  a  bit  of  pluck,  it  is  sure  to  be  put  upon  old  Bill 
Brown.  And  never  you  come  across  the  man,  Captain 
Lyth,  as  could  say  that  Bill  Brown  was  not  all  there.  Now 
orders  is  orders,  lad.  Tip  us  your  latest. ' ' 

"  Then  latest  orders  are  to  this  effect.  Toward  dusk  of 
night  you  stand  in  first,  a  league  or  more  ahead  of  us,  accord- 
ing to  the  daylight.  Tom  to  the  north  of  you,  and  me  to 
the  south,  just  within  signalling  distance.  The  Kestrel  and 
Albatross  will  come  to  speak  the  Swordfish  off  Robin 
Hood's  Bay,  at  that  very  hour,  as  we  happen  to  be  aware. 
You  sight  them,  even  before  they  sight  you,  because  you 
know  where  to  look  for  them,  and  you  keep  a  sharper  look- 
out, of  course.  Not  one  of  them  will  sight  us  so  far  off  in 
the  offing.  Signal  immediately,  one,  two,  or  three  ;  and  I 
heartily  hope  it  will  be  all  three.  Then  you  still  stand  in, 
as  if  you  could  not  see  them  ;  and  they  begin  to  laugh,  and 
draw  inshore  ;  knowing  the  bilander  as  they  do,  they  will 
hug  the  cliffs  for  you  to  run  into  their  jaws.  Tom  and  I 
bear  off,  all  sail,  never  allowing  them  to  sight  us.  Wre 
crack  on  to  the  north  and  south,  and  by  that  time  it  will  be 
nearly  dark.  You  still  carry  on,  till  they  know  that  you 
must  see  them  ;  then  'bout  ship,  and  crowd  sail  to  escape. 
They  give  chase,  and  you  lead  them  out  to  sea,  and  the 
longer  you  carry  on  the  better.  Then  as  they  begin  to 
fore-reach,  and  threaten  to  close,  you  'bout  ship  again,  as 
in  despair,  run  under  their  counters,  and  stand  in  for  the 


TACTICS   OF  ATTACK.  285 

bay.  They  may  fire  at  you  ;  but  it  is  not  very  likely,  for 
they  would  not  like  to  sink  such  a  valuable  prize  ;  though 
nobody  else  would  have  much  fear  of  that/' 

"  Captain,  I  laugh  at  their  brass  kettle-pots.  They  may 
blaze  away  as  blue  as  verdigris  ;  though  an  Englishman 
haven't  no  right  to  be  shot  at,  only  by  a  Frenchman." 

1  Very  well,  then,  you  hold  on,  like  a  Norfolk  man, 
through  the  thickest  of  the  enemy.  Nelson  is  a  Norfolk 
man  ;  and  you  charge  through,  as  he  does.  You  bear  right 
on,  and  rig  a  gangway  for  the  landing,  which  puts  them  all 
quite  upon  the  scream.  All  three  cutters  race  after  you 
pell-mell,  and  it  is  much  if  they  do  not  run  into  one 
another.  You  take  the  beach,  stem  on,  with  the  tide 
upon  the  ebb,  and  by  that  time  it  ought  to  be  getting  on 
for  midnight.  What  to  do  then,  I  need  not  tell  you  ;  but 
make  all  the  stand  you  can,  to  spare  us  any  hurry.  But 
don't  give  the  knock-down  blow,  if  you  can  help  it  ;  the 
lawyers  make  such  a  point  of  that,  from  their  intimacy  with 
the  prize-fighters." 

Clearly  perceiving  their  duty  now,  these  three  men  braced 
up  loin,  and  sailed  to  execute  the  same  accordingly.  For 
invaders  and  defenders  were  by  this  time  in  real  earnest 
with  their  work,  and  sure  alike  of  having  done  the  very  best 
that  could  be  done.  With  equal  confidence  on  either  side, 
a  noble  triumph  was  expected,  while  the  people  on  the  dry 
land  shook  their  heads,  and  were  thankful  to  be  out  of  it. 
Carroway,  in  a  perpetual  ferment,  gave  no  peace  to  any  of 
his  men,  and  never  entered  his  own  door  ;  but  riding,  row- 
ing, or  sailing  up  and  down,  here  and  there  and  everywhere, 
set  an  example  of  unflagging  zeal,  which  was  largely  ad- 
mired and  avoided.  And  yet  he  was  not  the  only  remark- 
ably active  man  in  the  neighborhood  ;  for  that  great  fact, 
and  universal  factor,  Geoffrey  Mordacks,  was  entirely  here. 
He  had  not  broken  the  heart  of  Widow  Precious,  by  taking 
up  his  quarters  at  the  Thorn  wick  Inn,  as  she  at  first 
imagined,  but  loyally  brought  himself  and  his  horse  to  her 
sign-post  for  their  Sunday  dinner.  Nor  was  this  all,  but 
he  ordered  the  very  best  bedroom  and  the  "  coral  parlor" 
— as  he  elegantly  called  the  sea-weedy  room — gave  every 
child,  whether  male  or  female,  sixpence  of  new  mintage, 


286  MARY  ANERLEY. 

and  created  such  impression  on  her  widowed  heart  that  he 
even  won  the  privilege  of  basting  his  own  duck.  Whatever 
this  gentleman  did  never  failed  to  reflect  equal  credit  on 
him  and  itself.  But  thoroughly  well  as  he  basted  his  duck, 
and  efficiently  as  he  consumed  it,  deeper  things  were  in  his 
mind,  and  moving  with  every  mouthful.  If  Captain  Car- 
roway  labored  hard  on  public  and  royal  service,  no  less 
severely  did  Mordacks  work,  though  his  stronger  sense  of 
self-duty  led  him  to  feed  the  labor  better.  On  the  Monday 
morning  he  had  a  long  and  highly  interesting  talk  with  the 
magisterial  rector,  to  whom  he  set  forth  certain  portions  of 
his  purpose,  loftily  spurning  entire  concealment,  according 
to  the  motto  of  his  life.  "  You  see,  sir,"  he  said,  as  he 
rose  to  depart,  "  what  I  have  told  you  is  very  important, 
and  in  the  strictest  confidence  of  course,  because  I  never  do 
anything  on  the  sly." 

' '  Mr.  Mordacks,  you  have  surprised  me, ' '  answered  Dr. 
Upround  ;  "  though  I  am  not  so  very  much  wiser  at  pres- 
ent. I  really  must  congratulate  you  upon  your  activity, 
and  the  impression  you  create. ' ' 

"  Not  at  all,  sir,  not  at  all.  It  is  my  manner  of  doing 
business,  now  for  thirty  years  or  more.  Moles  and  fools, 
sir,  work  underground,  and  only  get  traps  set  for  them  ;  I 
travel  entirely  above  ground,  and  go  ten  miles  for  their  ten 
inches.  My  strategy,  sir,  is  simplicity.  Nothing  puzzles 
rogues  so  much,  because  they  cannot  believe  it. ' ' 

"  The  theory  is  good  ;  may  the  practice  prove  the  same. 
I  should  be  sorry  to  be  against  you,  in  any  case  you  under- 
take. In  the  present  matter,  I  am  wholly  with  you,  so  far 
as  I  understand  what  it  is.  Still  Flamborough  is  a  place  of 
great  difficulties — " 

"  The  greatest  difficulty  of  all  would  be  to  fail,  as  I  look 
at  it.  Especially  with  your  most  valuable  aid." 

"  What  little  I  can  do  shall  be  most  readily  forthcoming. 
But  remember  there  is  many  a  slip  :  if  you  had  interfered 
but  one  month  ago,  how  much  easier  it  might  have  been  !" 

"  Truly.  But  I  have  to  grope  my  way  ;  and  it  is  a  hard 
people,  as  you  say,  to  deal  with.  But  I  have  no  fear,  sir  ; 
I  shall  overcome  all  Flamborough  ;  unless — unless,  what  I 
fear  to  think  of,  there  should  happen  to  be  bloodshed." 


TACTICS   OF   ATTACK.  287 

"  There  will  be  none  of  that,  Mr.  Mordacks  ;  we  are  too 
skilful,  and  too  gentle,  for  anything  more  than  a  few 
cracked  crowns/' 

"  Then  everything  is  as  it  ought  to  be.  But  I  must  be 
off  ;  I  have  many  points  to  see  to.  How  I  find  time  for 
this  affair  is  the  wonder. '  ' 

"  But  you  will  not  leave  us,  I  suppose,  until — until  what 
appears  to  be  expected  has  happened. " 

"  When  I  undertake  a  thing,  Dr.  Upround,  my  rule  is 
to  go  through  with  it.  You  have  promised  me  the  honor 
of  an  interview  at  any  time.  Good-by,  sir  ;  and  pray  give 
the  compliments  of  Mr.  Mordacks  to  the  ladies." 

With  even  more  than  his  usual  confidence  and  high 
spirits,  the  general  factor  mounted  horse  and  rode  at  once 
to  Bridlington,  or  rather  to  the  quay  thereof,  in  search  of 
Lieutenant  Carroway.  But  Carroway  was  not  at  home,  and 
his  poor  wife  said  with  a  sigh  that  now  she  had  given  up 
expecting  him.  ' f  Have  no  fear,  madam,  I  will  bring  him 
back,"  Mordacks  answered,  as  if  he  already  held  him  by 
the  collar  ;  "  I  have  very  good  news,  madam,  very  grand 
news  for  him,  and  you,  and  all  these  lovely  and  highly  in- 
telligent children.  Place  me,  madam,  under  the  very  deepest 
obligation  by  allowing  these  two  little  dears  to  take  the 
basket  I  see  yonder,  and  accompany  me  to  that  apple-stand. 
I  saw  there  some  fruit  of  a  sort  which  used  to  fit  my  teeth 
most  wonderfully  when  they  were  just  the  size  of  theirs. 
And  here  is  another  little  darling,,  with  a  pin-before  infi- 
nitely too  spotless.  If  you  will  spare  her  also,  we  will  do 
our  best  to  take  away  that  reproach,  ma'am." 

"•Oh,  sir,  you  are  much  too  kind.  But  to  speak  of 
good  news  does  one  good.  It  is  so  long  since  there 
has  been  any,  that  I  scarcely  know  how  to  pronounce  the 
words." 

"  Mistress  Carroway,  take  my  word  for  it,  that  such  a 
state  of  things  shall  be  shortly  of  the  past.  I  will  bring 
back  Captain  Carroway,  madam,  to  his  sweet  and  most 
beautifully  situated  home,  and  with  tidings  which  shall 
please  you." 

4 '  It  is  kind  of  you  not  to  tell  me  the  good  news  now, 
sir.  I  shall  enjoy  it  so  much  more  to  see  iny  husband  hear 


288  3IARY  AJsTERLEY. 

it.  Good-by,  and  I  hope  that  you  will  soon  be  back 
again." 

While  Mr.  Mordacks  was  loading  the  children  with  all  that 
they  made  soft  mouths  at,  he  observed  for  the  second  time 
three  men  who  appeared  to  be  taking  much  interest  in  his 
doings.  They  had  sauntered  aloof,  while  he  called  at  the 
cottage,  as  if  they  had  something  to  say  to  him,  but  would 
keep  it  until  he  had  finished  there.  But  they  did  not  come 
up  to  him,  as  he  expected  ;  and  when  he  had  seen  the  small 
Carroways  home,  he  rode  up,  to  ask  what  they  wanted  with 
him.  u  Nothing — only  this,  sir,"  the  shortest  of  them 
answered,  while  the  others  pretended  not  to  hear  ;  "  we 
was  told  that  yon  was  smuggler's  house,  and  we  thought 
that  your  honor  was  the  famous  Captain  Lyth. ' ' 

t  i  If  I  ever  want  a  man, ' '  said  the  general  factor,  ' '  to 
tell  a  lie  with  a  perfect  face,  I  shall  come  here  and  look  for 
you,  my  friend."  The  man  looked  at  him  and  smiled,  and 
nodded,  as  much  as  to  say,  "  you  might  get  it  done  worse," 
and  then  carelessly  followed  his  comrades  toward  the  sea. 
And  Mr.  Mordacks,  riding  off  with  equal  jauntiness,  cocked 
his  hat,  and  stared  at  the  Priory  Church,  as  if  he  had  never 
seen  any  such  building  before. 

u  I  begin  to  have  a  very  strong  suspicion,"  he  said  to 
himself  as  he  put  his  horse  along,  "  that  this  is  the  place 
where  the  main  attack  will  be.  Signs  of  a  well-suppressed 
activity  are  manifest  to  an  experienced  eye  like  mine.  All 
the  grocers,  the  bakers,  the  candlestick-makers,  and  the 
women,  who  always  precede  the  men,  are  mightily  gathered 
together.  And  the  men  are  holding  counsel  in  a  milder 
way.  They  have  got  three  jugs  at  the  old  boat-house,  for 
the  benefit  of  hallooing  in  the  open  air.  Moreover,  the 
lane  inland  is  scored  with  a  regular  market-day  of  wheels, 
and  there  is  no  market  this  side  of  the  old  town.  Carro- 
way,  vigilant  captain  of  men,  why  have  you  forsaken  your 
domestic  hearth  ?  Is  it  through  jealousy  of  Nettlebones, 
and  a  stern  resolve  to  be  ahead  of  him  ?  Robin,  my  Robin, 
is  a  genius  in  tactics,  a  very  bright  Napoleon  of  free-trade. 
He  penetrates  the  counsels,  or,  what  is  more,  the  feelings  of 
those  who  camp  against  him.  He  means  to  land  this  great 
emprise  at  Captain  Carro way's  threshold.  True  justice  on 


CORDIAL   ENJOYMENT.  5>S!) 

the  man  for  sleeping  out  of  his  own  bed  so  long.  But  in- 
stead of  bowing  to  the  blow,  he  would  turn  a  downright 
maniac,  according  to  all  I  hear  of  him.  Well,  it  is  no  con- 
cern of  mine,  so  long  as  nobody  is  killed  ;  which  everybody 
makes  such  a  fuss  about. ' ' 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

CORDIAL     ENJOYMENT. 

THE  poise  of  this  great  enterprise  was  hanging  largely  in 
the  sky,  from  which  come  all  things,  and  to  which  resolved 
they  are  referred  again.  The  sky,  to  hold  an  equal  bal- 
ance, or  to  decline  all  troublesome  responsibility  about  it, 
went  away,  or  (to  put  it  more  politely)  retired  from  the 
scene.  Even  as  nine  men  out  of  ten,  when  a  handsome 
fight  is  toward,  would  rather  have  no  opinion  on  the  merits, 
but  abide  in  their  breeches,  and  there  keep  their  hands  till 
the  fist  of  the  victor  is  open,  so  at  this  period  the  upper 
firmament  nodded  a  strict  neutrality.  And  yet,  on  the 
whole,  it  must  have  indulged  a  sneaking  proclivity  toward 
free-trade  ;  otherwise,  why  should  it  have  been  as  follows  ? 

November  now  was  far  advanced  ;  and  none  but  sanguine 
Britons  hoped,  at  least  in  this  part  of  the  world,  to  know 
(except  from  memory  and  predictions  of  the  Almanac) 
whether  the  sun  were  round  or  square,  until  next  Easter-day 
should  come.  It  was  not  quite  impossible  that  he  might 
appear  at  Candlemas,  when  he  is  supposed  to  give  a  dance, 
though  hitherto  a  strictly  private  one  ;  but  even  so,  this 
premature  frisk  of  his  were  undesirable,  if  faith  in  ancient 
rhyme  be'  any.  But  putting  him  out  of  the  question,  as  he 
had  already  put  himself,  the  things  that  were  below  him, 
and  from  length  of  practice,  manage  well  to  shape  their 
course  without  him,  were  moving  now  and  managing  them- 
selves with  moderation. 

The  tone  of  the  clouds  was  very  mild,  and  so  was  the 
color  of  the  sea.  A  comely  fog  involved  the  day,  and  a 
decent  mist  restrained  the  night  from  ostentatious  waste  of 
19 


290  MARY   ANERLEY. 

stars.  It  was  not  such  very  bad  weather  ;  but  a  captious 
man  might  find  fault  with  it,  and  only  a  thoroughly  cheer- 
ful one  could  enlarge  upon  its  merits.  Plainly  enough 
these  might  be  found  by  anybody,  having  any  core  of  rest 
inside  him,  or  any  gift  of  turning  over  upon  a  rigidly  neu- 
tral side,  and  considerably  outgazing  the  color  of  his  eyes. 

Commander  Nettlebones  was  not  of  poetic,  philosophic, 
or  vague  mind.  "  What  a  d— d  fog  !"  he  exclaimed  in 
the  morning  ;  and  he  used  the  same  words  in  the  after- 
noon, through  a  speaking-trumpet,  as  the  two  other  cutters 
ranged  up  within  hail.  This  they  did  very  carefully,  at  th  e 
appointed  rendezvous,  toward  the  fall  of  the  afternoon,  and 
hauled  their  wind  under  easy  sail,  shivering  in  the  south- 
western breeze. 

'  i  Not  half  so  bad  as  it  was, ' '  returned  Bowler,  being  of 
a  cheerful  mind.  "  It  is  lifting  every  minute,  sir.  Have 
you  had  sight  of  anything  ?" 

"  Not  a  blessed  stick,  except  a  fishing-boat.  What 
makes  you  ask,  lieutenant  ?" 

"  Why,  sir,  as  we  rounded  in,  it  lifted  for  a  moment, 
and  I  saw  a  craft  some  two  leagues  out,  standing  straight  in 
for  us. ' ' 

"  The  devil  you  did  !  What  was  she  like,  and  where 
away,  lieutenant  ?" 

"  A  heavy  lugger,  under  all  sail,  about  E.N.E.,  as  near 
as  may  be.  She  is  standing  for  Robin  Hood's  Bay,  I  be- 
lieve. In  an  hour's  time  she  will  be  upon  us,  if  the  weather 
keeps  so  thick." 

* i  She  may  have  seen  you,  and  sheered  off.  Stand  straight 
for  her,  as  nigh  as  you  can  guess.  The  fog  is  lifting,  as 
you  say.  If  you  sight  her,  signal  instantly.  Lieutenant 
Donovan,  have  you  heard  Bowler's  news  ?" 

"  Sure  an'  if  it  wasn't  for  the  fog  I  would.  Every  word 
of  it  come  to  me,  as  clear  as  seeing. ' ' 

"  Very  well.  Carry  on  a  little  to  the  south,  half  a 
league  or  so,  and  then  stand  out  ;  but  keep  within  sound 
of  signal.  I  shall  bear  up  presently.  It  is  clearing  every 
minute,  and  we  must  nab  them. ' ' 

The  fog  began  to  rise  in  loops  and  alleys,  with  the  up- 
ward pressure  of  the  evening  breeze,  which  freshened  from 


CORDIAL   EHJOYMENT.  291 

the  land  in  lines  and  patches,  according  to  the  run  of  cliff. 
Here  the  water  darkened  with  the  ruffle  of  the  wind,  and 
there  it  lay  quiet,  with  a  glassy  shine,  or  gentle  shadows  of 
variety.  Soon  the  three  cruisers  saw  one  another  clearly  ; 
and  then  they  all  sighted  an  approaching  sail. 

This  was  a  full -bowed  vessel,  of  quaint  rig,  heavy  sheer, 
and  extraordinary  build — a  foreigner  clearly,  and  an  ancient 
one.  She  differed  from  a  lugger,  as  widely  as  a  lugger 
differs  from  a  schooner,  and  her  broad  spread  of  canvas 
combined  the  features  of  square  and  of  fore-and-aft  tackle. 
But,  whatever  her  build  or  rig  might  be,  she  was  going 
through  the  water  at  a  strapping  pace,  heavily  laden  as  she 
was,  with  her  long  yards  creaking,  and  her  broad  frame 
croaking,  and  her  deep  bows  driving  up  the  fountains  of 
the  sea.  Her  enormous  mainsail  upon  the  mizzen-mast — or 
main-mast,  for  she  only  carried  two — was  hung  obliquely, 
yet  not  as  a  lugger's  slung  at  one-third  of  its  length,  but 
bent  to  a  long  yard  hanging  fore  and  aft,  with  a  long  fore- 
end  sloping  down  to  midship.  This  great  sail  gave  her 
vast  power,  when  close  hauled  ;  and  she  carried  a  square 
sail  on  the  foremast,  and  a  square  sail  on  either  topmast. 

"  Lord,  have  mercy  !  She  could  run  us  all  down  if  she 
tried  !"  exclaimed  Commander  Nettlebones  ;  "  and  what 
are  my  pop-guns  against  such  beam  ?" 

For  a  while  the  bilander  seemed  to  mean  to  try  it  ;  for 
she  carried  on  toward  the  central  cruiser,  as  if  she  had  not 
seen  one  of  them.  Then  beautifully  handled  she  brought 
to,  and  was  scudding  before  the  wind  in  another  minute, 
leading  them  all  a  brave  stern-chase  out  to  sea. 

i  i  It  must  be  that  dare-devil  Ly th  himself, ' '  Nettlebones 
said,  as  the  Swordfish  strained,  with  all  canvas  set,  but  no 
gain  made  ;  "  no  other  fellow  in  all  the  world  would  dare 
to  beard  us  in  this  style.  I'd  lay  ten  guineas  that  Dono- 
van's new  gun  won't  go  off,  if  he  tries  it.  Ah,  I  thought 
so — a  fizz  and  a  stink — trust  an  Irishman." 

For  this  gallant  lieutenant,  slanting  toward  the  bows  of 
the  flying  bilander,  which  he  had  no  hope  of  fore-reaching, 
trained  his  newly-fitted  howitzer  upon  her,  and  let  go,  or 
rather  tried  to  let  go  at  her.  But  his  powder  was  wet,  or 
else  there  was  some  stoppage  ;  for  the  only  result  was  a 


292  MARY   A^ERLEY. 

spurt  of  smoke  inward,  and  a  powdery  eruption  on  ms  own 
red  cheeks. 

'  i  I  wish  I  could  have  heard  him  swear, ' '  grumbled  Nettle- 
bones  ;  "  that  would  have  been  worth  something.  But 
Bowler  is  farther  out.  Bowler  will  cross  her  bows,  and  he 
is  not  a  fool.  Don't  be  in  a  hurry,  my  fine  Bob  Lyth. 
You  are  not  clear  yet,  though  you  crack  on  like  a  trooper. 
Well  done,  Bowler,  you  have  headed  him  !  By  Jove  !  I 
don't  understand  these  tactics.  Stand  by  there  !  She  is 
running  back  again. ' ' 

To  the  great  amazement  of  all  on  board  the  cruisers,  ex- 
cept perhaps  one  or  two,  the  great  Dutch  vessel,  which  might 
haply  have  escaped  by  standing  on  her  present  course,  spun 
round  like  a  top,  and  bore  in  again  among  her  three  pursuers. 
She  had  the  heels  of  all  of  them  before  the  wind,  and  might 
have  run  down  any  intercepter,  but  seemed  not  to  know  it, 
or  to  lose  all  nerve.  "  Thank  the  Lord  in  heaven,  all 
rogues  are  fools  !  She  may  double  as  she  will,  but  she  is 
ours  now.  Signal  Albatross  and  Kestrel  to  stand  in." 

In  a  few  minutes,  all  four  were  standing  for  the  bay  ; 
the  Dutch  vessel  leading  with  all  sail  set,  the  cruisers  fol- 
lowing warily,  and  spreading,  to  head  her  from  the  north 
or  south.  It  was  plain  that  they  had  her  well  in  the  toils  ; 
she  must  either  surrender  or  run  ashore  ;  close -hauled  as 
she  was,  she  could  not  run  them  down,  even  if  she  would 
dream  of  such  an  outrage. 

So  far  from  showing  any  sign  of  rudeness  was  the  smug- 
gling vessel,  that  she  would  not  even  plead  want  of  light  an 
excuse  for  want  of  courtesy.  For  running  past  the  royal 
cutters,  who  took  much  longer  to  come  about,  she  saluted 
each  of  them  with  deep  respect  for  the  swallow-tail  of  his 
majesty.  And  then  she  bore  on,  like  the  admiral's  ship, 
with  signal  for  all  to  follow  her. 

"  Such  cursed  impudence  never  did  I  see,''  cried  every 
one  of  the  revenue  skippers,  as  they  all  were  compelled  to 
obey  her  ;  "  surrender  she  must,  or  else  run  upon  the 
rocks.  Does  the  fool  know  what  he  is  driving  at  ?" 

The  fool,  who  was  Master  William  Brow^n  of  Grimsby, 
knew  very  well  what  he  was  about.  Every  shoal,  and 
sounding,  and  rocky  gut  was  thoroughly  familiar  to  him, 


CORDIAL   ENJOYMENT.  293 

and  the  spread  of  faint  light  on  the  waves,  and  along  shore, 
told  him  all  his  bearings.  The  loud  cackle  of  laughter, 
which  Grimsby  men  (at  the  cost  of  the  rest  of  the  world) 
enjoy,  was  carried  by  the  wind  to  the  ears  of  Nettlebones. 

The  latter  set  fast  his  teeth,  and  ground  them  ;  for  now 
in  the  rising  of  the  large  full  moon  he  perceived  that  the 
beach  of  the  cove  was  black  with  figures  gathering  rapidly. 
"  I  see  the  villain's  game  ;  it  is  all  clear  now, "  he  shouted, 
as  he  slammed  his  spy-glass.  u  He  means  to  run  in  where 
we  dare  not  follow  ;  and  he  knows  that  Carroway  is  out  of 
hail.  The  hull  may  go  smash  for  the  sake  of  the  cargo  ; 
and  his  flat-bottomed  tub  can  run  where  we  cannot.  I 
dare  not  carry  after  him — court-martial  if  I  do  ;  that  is 
where  those  fellows  beat  us  always.  But  by  the  Lord 
Harry,  he  shall  not  prevail.  Guns  are  no  good — the  rogue 
knows  that.  We  will  land  round  the  point  and  nab  him." 

By  this  time  the  moon  was  beginning  to  open  the 
clouds,  and  strew  the  waves  with  light  ;  and  the  vapors, 
which  had  lain  across  the  day,  defying  all  power  of  sun -ray, 
were  gracefully  yielding,  and  departing  softly,  at  the  insin- 
uating whisper  of  the  gliding  night.  Between  the  busy 
rolling  of  the  distant  waves  and  the  shining  prominence  of 
forward  cliffs,  a  quiet  space  was  left  for  ships  to  sail  in,  and 
for  men  to  show  activity  for  shooting  one  another.  And 
some  of  these  were  hurrying  to  do  so,  if  they  could. 

4 '  There  is  little  chance  of  hitting  them  in  this  bad  light  ; 
but  let  them  have  it,  Jakins  ;  and  a  guinea  for  you,  if  you 
can  only  bring  that  big  mainsail  down. 

The  gunner  was  yearning  for  this,  and  the  bellow  of  his 
piece  responded  to  the  captain's  words.  But  the  shot  only 
threw  up  a  long  path  of  fountains,  and  the  bilander 
ploughed  on  as  merrily  as  before.  "  Hard  aport  !  By  the 
Lord,  I  felt  her  touch.  Go  about  !  So,  so,  easy  !  Now 
lie  to,  for  Kestrel  and  Albatross  to  join.  My  certy,  but 
that  was  a  narrow  shave.  How  the  beggar  would  have 
laughed  if  we  had  grounded  !  Give  them  another  shot. 
It  will  do  the  gun  good  ;  she  wants  a  little  exercise." 

Nothing  loath  was  master  gunner,  as  the  other  bow-gun 
came  into  bearing,  to  make  a  little  more  noise  in  the  world, 
and  possibly  produce  a  greater  effect.  And  therein  he 


294  MARY  AKERLEY. 

must  have  had  a  grand  success,  and  established  a  noble 
reputation,  by  carrying  off  a  great  Grimsby  head,  if  he  only 
had  attended  to  a  little  matter.  Gunner  Jakins  was  a  cele- 
brated shot  ;  and  the  miss  he  had  made  stirred  him  up  to 
shoot  again.  If  the  other  gun  was  crooked,  this  one  should 
be  straight  ;  and  dark  as  it  was  in-shore,  he  got  a  patch  of 
white  ground  to  sight  by.  The  bilander  was  a  good  sizable  ob- 
ject ;  and  not  to  hit  her  anywhere  would  be  too  bad.  He  con- 
sidered these  things  carefully,  and  cocked  both  eyes,  with 
a  twinkling  ambiguity  between  them  ;  then  trusting  mainly 
to  the  left  one,  as  ari  ancient  gunner  for  the  most  part  does, 
he  watched  the  due  moment  and  fired.  The  smoke  curled 
over  the  sea,  and  so  did  the  Dutchman's  main  topsail,  for 
the  mast  beneath  it  was  cut  clean  through.  Some  of  the 
crew  were  frightened,  as  may  be  the  bravest  man  when  for 
the  first  time  shot  at  ;  but  Master  Brown  rubbed  his  horny 
hands. 

"  Now  this  is  a  good  judgment  for  that  younker  Kobin 
Lyth,"  he  shouted  aloud,  with  the  glory  of  a  man  who  has 
verified  his  own  opinions.  "  He  puts  all  the  danger  upon 
his  elders,  and  tells  them  there  is  none  of  it.  A'  might 
just  as  well  have  been  my  head,  if  a  wave  hadn't  lifted  the 
muzzle  when  that  straight-eyed  chap  let  fire.  Bear  a  hand, 
boys,  and  cut  away  the  wreck.  He  hathn't  got  never 
another  shot  to  send.  He  hath  saved  us  trouble  o'  short- 
ening that  there  canvas.  We  don't  need  too  much  way  on 
her." 

This  was  true  enough,  as  all  hands  knew  ;  for  the  craft 
was  bound  to  take  the  beach,  without  going  to  pieces  yet 
awhile.  Jem  Brown  stood  at  the  wheel  himself,  and  car- 
ried her  in  with  consummate  skill. 

' '  It  goeth  to  my  heart  to  throw  away  good  stuff, ' '  he 
grumbled,  at  almost  every  creak ;  two  hunder  pound  I 
would  a'  paid  myself  for  this  here  piece  of  timber.  Steady 
as  a  light-house,  and  as  handy  as  a  mop  ;  but  what  do  they 
young  fellers  care  ?  There  now,  my  lads,  hold  your  legs  a 
moment  ;  and  now  make  your  best  of  that." 

With  a  crash,  and  a  grating,  and  a  long  sad  grind,  the 
nuptial  ark  of  the  wealthy  Dutchman  cast  herself  into  her 
last  bed  and  berth. 


CORDIAL  EtfJOYMEXT.  295 

"  I  done  it  right  well,"  said  the  Grimsby  man. 

The  poor  old  bilander  had  made  herself  such  a  hole  in 
the  shingle  that  she  rolled  no  more,  but  only  lifted  at  the 
stern  and  groaned,  as  the  quiet  waves  swept  under  her. 
The  beach  was  swarming  with  men,  who  gave  her  a  cheer, 
and  flung  their  hats  up  ;  and  in  two  or  three  minutes  as 
many  gangways  of  timber  and  rope  were  rigged  to  her 
hawse-holes,  or  fore-chains,  or  almost  anywhere.  And  then 
the  rolling  of  puncheons  began,  and  the  hoisting  of  bales, 
and  the  thump,  and  the  creak,  and  the  laughter,  and  the 
swearing. 

"  Now  be  you  partiklar,  uncommon  partiklar  ;  never 
start  a  stave  nor  fray  a  bale.  Powerful  precious  stuff  this 
time.  Gold  every  bit  of  it,  if  it  are  a  penny.  They 
blessed  coast-riders  will  be  on  us  round  the  point.  But 
never  you  hurry,  lads,  the  more  for  that.  Better  a'most  to 
let  'em  have  it  than  damage  a  drop  or  a  thread  of  such 
goods. " 

"  All  right,  Cappen  Brown.  Don't  you  be  so  wonnerful 
unaisy.  Not  the  first  time  we  have  handled  such  stuff. ' ' 

"  I'm  not  so  sure  of  that,"  replied  Brown,  as  he  lit  a 
short  pipe,  and  began  to  puff.  "  I've  a  run  some  afore, 
but  never  none  so  precious. ' ' 

Then  the  men  of  the  coast  and  the  sailors  worked  with  a 
will,  by  the  broad  light  of  the  moon,  which  showed  their 
brawny  arms  and  panting  chests,  with  the  hoisting,  and  the 
heaving,  and  the  rolling.  In  less  than  an  hour  three  fourths 
of  the  cargo  were  landed,  and  some  already  stowed  inland, 
where  no  Preventive  eye  could  penetrate.  Then  Captain 
Brown  put  away  his  pipe,  and  was  busy,  in  a  dark  empty 
part  of  the  hold,  with  some  barrels  of  his  own,  which  he 
covered  with  a  sail-cloth. 

Presently  the  tramp  of  marching  men  was  heard  in  a  lane 
on  the  north  side  of  the  cove,  and  then  the  like  sound 
echoed  from  the  south.  '  *  Now,  never  you  hurry, ' '  said  the 
Grimsby  man.  The  others,  however,  could  not  attain  such 
standard  of  equanimity.  They  fell  into  sudden  confusion,  and 
babble  of  tongues,  and  hesitation — everybody  longing  to 
be  off  ;  but  nobody  liking  to  run  without  something  good. 
And  to  get  away  with  anything  at  all  substantial,  even  in 


296  MARY  AKERLEY. 

the  dark,  was  difficult,  because  there  were  cliffs  in  front, 
and  the  flanks  would  be  stopped  by  men  with  cutlasses. 

"  Ston'  you  still,"  cried  Captain  Brown  ;  "  never  you 
budge  ne'er  a  one  of  ye.  I  stands  upon  my  legitimacy  ; 
and  I  answer  for  the  consekence.  I  takes  all  responsi- 
bility." 

Like  all  honest  Britons  they  loved  long  words,  and  they 
knew  that  if  the  worst  came  to  the  worst,  a  mere  broken 
head  or  two  would  make  all  straight  ;  so  they  huddled  to- 
gether in  the  moonlight  waiting,  and  no  one  desired  to  be 
the  outside  man.  And  while  they  were  striving  for  pre- 
cedence toward  the  middle,  the  coast-guards  from  either 
side  marched  upon  them,  according  to  their  very  best  drill 
and  in  high  discipline,  to  knock  down  almost  any  man  with 
the  pommel  of  the  sword. 

But  the  smugglers  also  showed  high  discipline  under  the 
commanding  voice  of  Captain  Brown. 

"  Every  man  ston'  with  his  hands  to  his  sides,  and  ask  of 
they  sojjers  for  a  pinch  of  bacca. " 

This  made  them  laugh  till  Captain  Nettlebones  strode  up. 

"  In  the  name  of  his  Majesty,  surrender,  all  you  fellows. 
You  are  fairly  caught  in  the  very  act  of  landing  a  large  run 
of  goods  contraband.  It  is  high  time  to  make  an  example 
of  you.  Where  is  your  skipper,  lads  ?  Robin  Lyth,  come 
forth." 

"  May  it  please  your  good  honor  and  his  Majesty's  com- 
mission, ' '  said  Brown  in  his  full  round  voice,  as  he  walked 
down  the  broadest  of  the  gangways  leisurely,  u  my  name  is 
not  Robin  Lyth,  but  William  Brown,  a  family  man  of 
Grimsby,  and  an  honest  trader  upon  the  high  seas.  My 
cargo  is  medical  water  and  rags,  mainly  for  the  use  of  the 
revenue-men,  by  reason  they  han't  had  their  new  uniforms 
this  twelve  months. ' ' 

Several  of  the  enemy  began  to  giggle,  for  their  winter 
supply  of  clothes  had  failed,  through  some  lapse  of  the  de- 
partment. But  Nettlebones  marched  up,  and  collared  Cap- 
tain Brown,  and  said,  "You  are  my  prisoner,  sir.  Sur- 
render, Robin  Lyth,  this  moment. ' '  Brown  made  no  re- 
sistance, but  respectfully  touched  his  hat,  and  thought. 

"  I  were  trying  to   call  upon  my  memory,"  he  said,  as 


CORDIAL   ENJOYMENT.  297 

the  revenue-officer  led  him  aside,  and  promised  him  that  he 
should  get  off  easily,  if  he  would  only  give  up  his  chief  ; 
"  I  am  not  going  to  deny,  your  honor,  that  I  have  heard 
tell  of  that  name,  '  Robin  Lyth. '  But  my  memory  never 
do  come  in  a  moment.  Now,  were  he  a  man  in  the  con- 
traband line  ?" 

"  Brown,  you  want  to  provoke  me.  It  will  only  be  ten 
times  worse  for  you.  Now,  give  him  up  like  an  honest  fel- 
low, and  I  will  do  my  best  for  you.  I  might  even  let  a  few 
tubs  slip  by." 

* '  Sir,  I  am  a  stranger  round  these  parts  ;  and  the  lingo 
is  beyond  me.  Tubs  is  a  bucket  as  the  women  use  for 
washing.  Never  I  heared  of  any  other  sort  of  tubs.  But 
my  mate,  he  knoweth  more  of  Yorkshire  talk — Jack,  here 
his  honor  is  a  speaking  about  tubs  ;  ever  you  hear  of  tubs, 
Jack?'7 

'  *  Make  the  villain  fast  to  yonder  mooring-post, ' '  shouted 
Nettlebones,  losing  his  temper  ;  "  and  one  of  you  stand  by 
him,  with  a  hanger  ready.  Now,  Master  Brown,  we'll  see 
what  tubs  are,  if  you  please  ;  and  what  sort  of  rags  you 
land  at  night.  One  chance  more  for  you — will  you  give  up 
Robin  Lyth?" 

"  Yes,  sir,  that  I  will,  without  two  thoughts  about  'un. 
Only  too  happy,  as  the  young  women  say,  to  give  'un  up, 
quick  stick — so  soon  as  ever  I  ha'  got  'un. " 

"  If  ever  there  was  a  contumacious  rogue — roll  up  a 
couple  of  those  puncheons,  Mr.  Avery  ;  and  now  light  half 
a  dozen  links.  Have  you  got  your  spigot-heels — and  rum- 
mers ?  Very  good  ;  Lieutenant  Donovan,  Mr.  Avery,  and 
Senior  Volunteer  Brett,  oblige  me  by  standing  by  to  verify. 
Gentlemen,  we  will  endeavor  to  hold  what  is  judicially  called 
an  assaye,  a  proof  of  the  purity  of  substances.  The  brand 
on  these  casks  is  of  the  very  highest  order — the  renowned 
Mynheer  Van  Dunck  himself.  Donovan,  you  shall  be  our 
foreman  ;  I  have  heard  you  say  that  you  understand  ardent 
spirits  from  your  birth. ' ' 

"  Faix,  and  I  quite  forget,  commander,  whether  I  was 
weaned  on  or  off  of  them.  But  the  foine  judge  me  father 
was  come  down  till  me — honey,  don't  be  narvous  ;  slope  it 
well  then — a  little  thick  is  it  ?  All  the  richer  for  that  same, 


298  MARY  ANERLEY. 

me  boy.  Commander,  here's  the  good  health  of  his  Maj- 
esty—Oh, Lord  !" 

Mr.  Corkoran  Donovan  fell  down  upon  the  shingle,  and 
rolled  and  bellowed  :  "  Sure,  me  inside' s  out  !  'Tis  poi- 
soned I  am,  every  mortial  bit  o'  me  !  A  dochtor,  a  doch- 
tor,  and  a  praste,  to  kill  me  !  That  ever  I  should 
live  to  die  like  this  !  Ochone,  ochone,  every  bit  of  me  ; 
to  be  brought  forth  upon  good  whisky,  and  go  out  of  the 
world  upon  dochtor's  stuff  !" 

'  *  Most  folk  does  that,  when  they  ought  to  turn  ends 
^otherwise  ;"  Bill  Brown  of  Grimsby  could  see  how 
things  were  going,  though  his  power  to  aid  was  restricted 
by  a  double  turn  of  rope  around  him  ;  but  a  kind  hand  had 
given  him  a  pipe,  and  his  manner  was  to  take  things  easily. 
"  Commander,  or  captain,  or  whatever  you  be,  with  your 
king's  clothes,  constructing  a  hole  in  they  flints,  never  you 
fear,  sir.  "Pis  medical  water  ;  and  your  own  wife  wouldn't 
know  you  to-morrow.  Your  complexion  will  be  like  a 
hangel's." 

"You  d — drogue,"  cried  Nettlebones,  striding  up, 
with  his  sword  flashing  in  the  link-lights,  "  if  ever  I  had  a 
mind  to  cut  any  man  down — " 

u  Well,  sir,  do  it,  then,  upon  a  roped  man  ;  if  the 
honor  of  the  British  navy  calleth  for  it.  My  will  is  made, 
and  my  widow  will  have  action  ;  and  the  executioner  of  my 
will  is  a  Grimsby  man,  with  a  pile  of  money  made  in  the 
line  of  salt  fish,  and  such  like. ' ' 

"  Brown,  you  are  a  brave  man.  I  would  scorn  to  harm 
you.  Now,  upon  your  honor,  are  all  your  puncheons  filled 
with  that  stuff,  and  nothing  else  ?" 

' '  Upon  my  word  of  honor,  sir,  they  are.  Some  a  little 
weaker,  some  with  more  bilge-water  in  it,  or  a  trifle  of  a 
dash  from  the  midden.  The  main  of  it,  however,  in  the 
very  same  condition  as  a'  bubbleth  out  of  what  they  call 
the  spawses.  Why,  captain,  you  must  a'  lived  long  enough 
to  know,  partikkler  if  gifted  with  a  family,  that  no  sort  of 
spirit  as  were  ever  stilled  will  fetch  so  much  money  by  the 
gallon,  duty  paid,  as  the  doctor's  stuff  doth  by  the  phial- 
bottle." 

"  That  is  true  enough  ;  but  no  lies,  Brown,  particularly 


CORDIAL  ENJOYMENT.  299 

when  upon  your  honor  !  If  you  were  importing  doctor's 
stuff,  why  did  you  lead  us  such  a  dance,  and  stand  fire  ?" 

"  Well,  your  honor,  you  must  promise  not  to  be  of- 
fended, if  I  tell  you  of  a  little  mistake  we  made.  We 
heared  a  sight  of  talk  about  some  pirate-craft  as  hoisteth 
his  Majesty's  flag  upon  their  villainy.  And  when  first  you 
come  up,  in  the  dusk  of  the  night — " 

"  You  are  the  most  impudent  rogue  I  ever  saw.  Show 
your  bills  of  lading,  sir.  You  know  his  Majesty's  revenue- 
cruisers  as  well  as  I  know  your  smuggling-tub." 

"  Ship's  papers  are  aboard  of  her,  all  correct,  sir.  Keys 
at  your  service  if  you  please  to  feel  my  pocket,  objecting 
to  let  my  hands  loose. ' ' 

"  Very  well,  I  must  go  on  board  of  her,  and  test  a  few 
of  your  puncheons  and  bales,  Master  Brown.  Locker  in 
the  master's  own  cabin,  I  suppose  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir,  plain  as  can  be  on  the  starboard  side  just  be- 
hind the  cabin-door.  Only  your  honor  must  be  smart 
about  it  ;  the  time-fuse  can't  a'  got  three  inches  left." 

u  Time-fuse  ?  What  do  you  mean,  you  Grimsby  villain  ?" 

' i  Nothing,  commander,  but  to  keep  you  out  of  mischief. 
When  we  were  compelled  to  beach  the  old  craft,  for  fear  of 
them  scoundrelly  pirates,  it  came  into  my  head  what  a  pity 
it  would  be  to  have  her  used  illegal  ;  for  she  do  outsail 
a 'most  everything,  as  your  honor  can  bear  witness.  So  I 
just  laid  a  half-hour  fuse  to  three  big  powder-barrels  as  is 
down  there  in  the  hold  ;  and  I  expect  to  see  a  blow-up 
almost  every  moment.  But  your -honor  might  be  in  time 
yet,  with  a  run,  and  good  luck  to  your  foot,  you  might — " 

"  Back,  lads,  back,  every  one  of  you,  this  moment  !" 
The  first  concern  of  Nettlebones  was  rightly  for  his  men. 
"  Under  the  cliff  here  !  Keep  well  back.  Push  out  those 
smuggler  fellows  into  the  middle.  Let  them  have  the  ben- 
efit of  their  own  inventions,  and  this  impudent  Brown  the 
foremost.  They  have  laid  a  train  to  their  powder-barrels, 
and  the  lugger  will  blow  up  any  moment." 

"  No  fear  for  me,  commander,"  Bill  Brown  shouted 
through  the  hurry  and  jostle  of  a  hundred  runaways. 
u  More  fear  for  that  poor  man  as  lieth  there  a-lurching. 
She  won't  hit  me  when  she  bloweth  up,  no  more  than  your 


300  MAKY  ASTEKLEY. 

honor  could.  But  surely  your  duty  demandeth  of  you  to 
board  the  old  bilander,  and  take  samples. " 

"  Sample  enough  of  you,  my  friend.  But  I  haven't 
quite  done  with  you  yet.  Simpson,  here  bear  a  hand  with 
poor  Lieutenant  Donovan. " 

Nettlebones  set  a  good  example  by  lifting  the  prostrate 
Irishman  ;  and  they  bore  him  into  safety,  and  drew  up 
there  ;  while  the  beachmen,  forbidden  the  shelter  at  point 
of  cutlass,  made  off  right  and  left  ;  and  then  with  a  crash 
that  shook  the  strand  and  drove  back  the  water  in  a  white 
turmoil,  the  Crown  of  Gold  flew  into  a  fount  of  timbers, 
splinters,  shreds,  smoke,  fire,  and  dust. 

"  Gentlemen,  you  may  come  out  of  your  holes/'  the 
Grimsby  man  shouted  from  his  mooring-post,  as  the  echoes 
ran  along  the  cliffs,  and  rolled  to  and  fro  in  the  distance. 
' i  My  old  woman  will  miss  a  piece  of  my  pig-tail,  but  she 
hathn't  hurt  her  old  skipper  else.  She  blowed  up  hand- 
some, and  no  mistake  !  No  more  danger,  gentlemen,  and 
plenty  of  stuff  to  pick  up  afore  next  pay-day. ' ' 

"  What  shall  we  do  with  that  insolent  hound  ?"  Nettle- 
bones  asked  poor  Donovan,  who  was  groaning  in  slow  con- 
valescence. "  We  have  caught  him  in  nothing.  We  can- 
not commit  him  ;  we  cannot  even  duck  him  legally. ' ' 

11  Be  jabers,  let  him  drink  his  health  in  his  own  potheen. " 

"  Capital  !  Bravo  for  old  Ireland,  my  friend  !  You 
shall  see  it  done,  and  handsomely.  Brown,  you  recom- 
mend these  waters  ;  so  you  shall  have  a  dose  of  them. ' ' 

A  piece  of  old  truncate  kelp  was  found,  as  good  a  drink- 
ing-horn as  need  be  ;  and  with  this  Captain  Brown  was 
forced  to  swallow  half  a  bucketful  of  his  own  "  medical 
water  ;"  and  they  left  him  fast  at  his  moorings  to  reflect 
upon  this  form  of  importation. 


BEABDED   IX   HIS   DEtf.  301 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

BEARDED      IN     HIS       DEN. 

' '  WHAT  do  you  think  of  it  by  this  time,  Bowler?" 
Commander  Nettlebones  asked  his  second,  who  had  been 
left  in  command  afloat,  and  to  whom  they  rowed  back  in  a 
wrathful  mood,  with  a  good  deal  of  impression  that  the 
fault  was  his.  "  You  have  been  taking  it  easily  out  here. 
What  do  you  think  of  the  whole  of  it  ?" 

"  I  have  simply  obeyed  your  orders,  sir  ;  and  if  I  am  to 
be  blamed  for  that,  I  had  better  offer  no  opinion." 

"  No,  no,  I  am  finding  no  fault  with  you.  Don't  be  so 
tetchy,  Bowler.  I  seek  your  opinion,  and  you  are  bound 
to  give  it. ' ' 

"  Well,  then,  sir,  my  opinion  is  that  they  have  made  fools 
of  the  lot  of  us,  excepting,  of  course,  my  superior  officer." 

"  You  think  so,  Bowler  ?  Well,  and  so  do  I — and  my- 
self the  biggest  fool  of  any.  They  have  charged  our  centre 
with  a  dummy  cargo,  while  they  run  the  real  stun:  far  on 
either  flank.  Is  that  your  opinion  ?" 

u  To  a  nicety,  that  is  my  opinion,  now  that  you  put  it 
so  clearly,  sir." 

"  The  trick  is  a  clumsy  one,  and  never  should  succeed. 
Cairoway  ought  to  catch  one  lot,  if  he  has  a  haporth  of 
sense  in  him.  What  is  the  time  now,  and  how  is  the 
wind?" 

"  I  hear  a  church-clock  striking  twelve  ;  and  by  the 
moon  it  must  be  that.  The  wind  is  still  from  the  shore, 
but  veering,  and  I  felt  a  flaw  from  the  east  just  now." 

'  i  If  the  wind  works  round,  our  turn  will  come.  Is  Don- 
ovan fit  for  duty  yet  ?" 

'  Ten  times  fit,  sir — to  use  his  own  expression.  He  is 
burning  to  have  at  somebody.  His  eyes  work  about  like 
the  binnacle's  card." 

11  Then  board  him,  and  order  him  to  make  all  sail  for 
Burlington  ;  and  see  what  old  Carroway  is  up  to.  You 
be  off  for  Whitby,  and  as  far  as  Teesmouth,  looking  into 
every  co^e  you  pass.  I  shall  stand  off  and  on  from  this  to 


302  MARY   AKERLEY. 

1 

Scarborough,  and  as  far  as  Filey.  Short  measures,  mind, 
if  you  come  across  them  !  If  I  nab  that  fellow  Lyth,  I 
shall  go  near  to  hanging  him  as  a  felon-outlaw.  His  trick 
is  a  little  too  outrageous. ' ' 

"  No  fear,  commander.  If  it  is  as  we  suppose,  it  is 
high  time  to  make  a  strong  example." 

Hours  had  been  lost,  as  the  captains  of  the  cruisers  knew 
too  well  by  this  time.  Robin  Lyth's  stratagem  had  duped 
them  all,  while  the  contraband  cargoes  might  be  landed 
safely,  at  either  extremity  of  their  beat.  By  the  aid  of  the 
fishing-boats,  he  had  learned  their  manoeuvres  clearly,  and 
out- manoeuvred  them. 

Now,  it  would  have  been  better  for  him,  perhaps,  to 
have  been  content  with  a  lesser  triumph,  and  to  run  his 
own  schooner  the  Glimpse  farther  south,  toward  Hornsea, 
or  even  Aldbrough.  Nothing,  however,  would  satisfy 
him  but  to  land  his  fine  cargo  at  Carro way's  own  door 
— a  piece  of  downright  insolence,  for  which  he  paid  out 
most  bitterly.  A  man  of  his  courage  and  lofty  fame 
should  have  been  above  such  vindictive  feelings.  But,  as 
it  was,  he  cherished  and,  alas,  indulged  a  certain  small 
grudge  against  the  bold  lieutenant,  scarcely  so  much  for  en- 
deavoring to  shoot  him  as  for  entrapping  him  at  Byrsa  Cot- 
tage, during  the  very  sweetest  moment  of  his  life.  "  You 
broke  in  disgracefully, "  said  the  smuggler  to  himself, 
11  upon  my  privacy  when  it  should  have  been  most  sacred. 
The  least  thing  I  can  do  is  to  return  your  visit,  and  pay  my 
respects  to  Mrs.  Carroway,  and  your  interesting  family. ' ' 

Little  expecting  such  a  courtesy  as  this,  the  vigilant  offi- 
cer was  hurrying  about,  here,  there,  and  almost  everywhere 
(except  in  the  right  direction),  at  one  time  by  pinnace,  at 
another  upon  horseback,  or  on  his  unwearied  though  un- 
equal feet.  He  carried  his  sword  in  one  hand,  and  his  spy- 
flass  in  the  other,  and  at  every  fog  he  swore  so  hard  that 
e  seemed  to  turn  it  yellow.  '  With  his  heart  worn  almost 
into  holes,  as  an  over-mangled  quilt  is,  by  burdensome  roll 
of  perpetual  lies,  he  condemned,  with  a  round  mouth, 
smugglers,  cutters,  the  coast-guard  and  the  coast  itself,  the 
weather,  and  with  a  deeper  depth  of  condemnation,  the 
farmers,  landladies,  and  fishermen.  For  all  of  these  verily 


BEARDED   IK   HIS   DEtf.  303 

seemed  to  be  in  league  to  play  him  the  game  which  school- 
boys play  with  a  gentle-faced  new-comer — the  game  of 
* '  send  the  fool  farther. ' ' 

John  Gristhorp,  of  the  Ship  Inn,  at  Filey,  had  turned 
out  his  visitors,  barred  his  door,  and  was  counting  his 
money  by  the  fireside,  with  his  wife  grumbling  at  him  for 
such  late  hours  as  half -past  ten  of  the  clock  in  the  bar,  that 
night  when  the  poor  bilander  ended  her  long  career  as  afore- 
said. Then  a  thundering  knock  at  the  door  just  fastened 
made  him  upset  a  little  pyramid  of  pence,  and  catch  up  the 
iron  candlestick. 

"  None  of  your  roystering  here  !"  cried  the  lady. 
"  John,  you  know  better  than  to  let  them  in,  I  hope." 

"  Copper  coomth  by  daa,  goold  coomth  t'naight-time," 
the  sturdy  publican  answered,  though  resolved  to  learn  who 
it  was  before  unbarring. 

"  In  the  name  of  the  king,  undo  this  door/'  a  deep  stern 
voice  resounded,  u  or  by  royal  command,  we  make  splinters 
of  it." 

"It  is  that  horrible  Carroway  again, ' '  whispered  Mrs. 
Gristhorp.  "  Much  gold  comes  of  him,  I  doubt.  Let 
him  in  if  you  dare,  John." 

"'Keep  ma  oot,  if  ye  de-arr,'  "  saith  he;  "  Ah'll 
awand  here's  the  tail  o'  it." 

While  Gristhorp,  in  wholesome  fealty  to  his  wife,  was 
doubting,  the  door  flew  open,  and  in  marched  Carroway 
and  all  his  men,  or  at  least  all  save  one  of  his  present  fol- 
lowing. He  had  ordered  his  pinnace  to  meet  him  here, 
himself  having  ridden  from  Scarborough,  and  the  pinnace 
had  brought  the  jolly-boat  in  tow,  according  to  his  direc- 
tions. The  men  had  landed  with  the  jolly-boat,  which  was 
handier  for  beach-work,  leaving  one  of  their  number  to 
mind  the  larger  craft  while  they  should  refresh  themselves. 
They  were  nine  in  all,  and  Carroway  himself  the  tenth,  all 
sturdy  fellows,  and  for  the  main  of  it  tolerably  honest  : 
Cadman,  Ellis,  and  Dick  Hackerbody,  and  one  more  man 
from  Bridlington,  the  rest  a  reinforcement  from  Spurn 
Head,  called  up  for  occasion. 

"  Landlord,  produce  your  best,  and  quickly,"  the  officer 
said,  as  he  threw  himself  into  the  arm-chair  of  state,  being 


304  MARY   ANEHLEY. 

tnorougmy  tired.  "  In  one  hour's  time  we  must  be  off. 
Therefore,  John,  bring  nothing  tough,  for  our  stomachs  are 
better  than  our  teeth.  A  shilling  per  head  is  his  Majesty's 
price,  and  half -a-cr own  for  officers.  Now  a  gallon  of  ale, 
to  begin  with." 

Gristhorp,  being  a  prudent  man,  brought  the  very  tough- 
est parts  of  his  larder  forth,  with  his  wife  giving  nudge  to 
his  elbow.  All,  and  especially  Carroway,  too  hungry  for 
nice  criticism,  fell  to,  by  the  light  of  three  tallow  candles, 
and  were  just  getting  into  the  heart  of  it,  when  the  rattle 
of  horse-shoes  on  the  pitch-stones  shook  the  wide  low  win- 
dow, and  a  little  boy  came  staggering  in,  with  scanty  breath 
and  dazzled  eyes,  and  a  long  face  pale  with  hurrying  so. 

"  Why,  Tom,  my  boy,"  the  lieutenant  cried,  jumping 
up  so  suddenly  that  he  overturned  the  little  table,  at  which 
he  was  feeding  by  himself,  to  preserve  the  proper  discipline  ; 
"  Tom,  my  darling,  what  has  brought  you  here  ?  Any- 
thing wrong  with  your  mother  ?" 

u  Nobody  wouldn't  come  but  me,"  Carro way's  eldest  son 
began  to  gasp,  with  his  mouth  full  of  crying  ;  i  i  and  I  bor- 
rowed Butcher  Hewson's  pony,  and  he's  going  to  charge 
five  shillings  for  it. ' ' 

i '  Never  mind  that.  We  shall  not  have  to  pay  it.  But 
what  is  it  all  about,  my  son  ?" 

1  i  About  the  men  that  are  landing  the  things,  just  oppo- 
site our  front  door,  father.  They  have  got  seven  carts  and 
a  wagon  with  three  horses,  and  one  of  the  horses  is  three 
colors  ;  and  ever  so  many  ponies,  more*  than  you  could 
count." 

"  Well,  then,  may  I  be  forever — "  here  the  lieutenant 
used  an  expression  which  not  only  was  in  breach  of  the 
third  commandment,  but  might  lead  his  son  to  think  less  of 
the  fifth  ;  "  if  it  isn't  more  than  I  can  bear  !  To  be  run- 
ning a  cargo  at  my  own  hall-door  !"  He  had  a  passage, 
large  enough  to  hang  three  hats  in,  which  the  lady  of  the 
house  always  called  '*  the  hall."  "  Very  well,  very  good, 
very  fine,  indeed  !  You  sons  of — ' '  an  animal  that  is  not 
yet  accounted  the  mother  of  the  human  race,  i '  have  you 
done  guzzling  and  swizzling  ?" 

The  men  who  were  new  to  his  orders  jumped  up,  for 


BEARDED   IK  HIS   DEK.  305 

they  liked  his  expressions,  by  way  of  a  change  ;  but  the 
Bridlington  squad  stuck  to  their  trenchers.  "  Ready  in 
five  minutes,  sir,"  said  Cadman,  with  a  glance  neither  lov- 
ing nor  respectful. 

"  If  ever  there  was  an  old  hog  for  the  trough,  the  name 
of  him  is  John  Cadman.  In  ten  minutes,  lads,  we  must  all 
be  afloat/' 

"  One  more  against  you,"  muttered  Cadman  ;  and  a 
shrewd  quiet  man  from  Spurn  Head,  Adam  Andrews,  heard 
him,  and  took  heed  of  him. 

While  the  men  of  the  coast-guard  were  hurrying  down, 
to  make  ready  the  jolly-boat,  and  hail  the  pinnace,  Carro- 
way  stopped  to  pay  the  score,  and  to  give  his  son  some  beer 
and  meat.  The  thirsty  little  fellow  drained  his  cup,  and 
filled  his  mouth  and  both  hands  with  food,  while  the  land- 
lady picked  out  the  best  bits  for  him. 

"  Don't  talk,  my  son,  don't  try  to  talk,"  said  Carroway, 
looking  proudly  at  him,  while  the  boy  was  struggling  to  tell 
his  adventures,  without  loss  of  feeding- time  ;  "  you  are  a 
chip  of  the  old  block,  Tom,  for  victualling,  and  for  riding 
too.  Kind  madam,  you  never  saw  such  a  boy  before. 
Mark  my  words,  he  will  do  more  in  the  world  than  ever 
his  father  did,  and  his  father  was  pretty  well  known  in  his 
time,  in  the  Royal  Navy,  ma'am.  To  have  stuck  to  his 
horse  all  that  way  in  the  dark  was  wonderful,  perfectly  won- 
derful. And  the  horse  blows  more  than  the  rider,  ma'am, 
which  is  quite  beyond  my  experience  !  Now,  Tom,  ride 
home  very  carefully  and  slowly,  if  you  feel  quite  equal  to 
it.  The  Lord  has  watched  over  you,  and  He  will  continue, 
as  He  does  with  brave  folk  that  do  their  duty.  Half-a- 
crown  you  shall  have  all  for  yourself,  and  the  sixpenny  boat 
that  you  longed  for  in  the  shops.  Keep  out  of  the  way  of 
the  smugglers,  Tom,  don't  let  them  even  clap  eyes  on  you. 
Kiss  me,  my  son,  I  am  proud  of  you." 

Little  Tom  long  remembered  this  ;  and  his  mother  cried 
over  it  hundreds  of  times. 

Although  it  was  getting  on  for  midnight  now,  Master 

Gristhorp  and  his  wife  came  out  into  the  road  before  their 

house,  to  see  the  departure  of  their  guests.     And  this  they 

could  do  well,  because  the  moon  had  cleared  all  the  fog 

20 


306  MAKY   AHERLEY. 

away,  and  was  standing  in  a  good  part  of  the  sky  for  throw- 
ing clear  light  upon  Filey.  Along  the  uncovered  ridge  of 
shore,  which  served  for  a  road,  and  was  better  than  a  road, 
the  boy  and  the  pony  grew  smaller  ;  while  upon  the  silvery 
sea  the  same  thing  happened  to  the  pinnace,  with  her 
white  sails  bending,  and  her  six  oars  glistening. 

il  The  world  goeth  up,  and  the  world  goeth  down,"  said 
the  lady  with  her  arms  akimbo  ;  "  and  the  moon  goeth  over 
the  whole  of  us,  John  ;  but  to  my  heart  I  do  pity  poor 
folk,  as  canna  count  the  time  to  have  the  sniff  of  their  own 
blankets." 

"  Margery,  I  loikes  the  moon,  as  young  as  ever  ye  da. 
But  I  sooner  see  the  snuff  of  our  own  taller,  a-going  out, 
fra'  the  bed-curtings. " 

Shaking  their  heads  with  concrete  wisdom,  they  managed 
to  bar  the  door  again,  and  blessing  their  stars  that  they  did 
not  often  want  them,  took  shelter  beneath  the  quiet  canopy 
of  bed.  And  when  they  heard,  by  and  by,  what  had  hap- 
pened, it  cost  them  a  week  apiece  to  believe  it  ;  because 
with  their  own  eyes  they  had  seen  everything  so  peaceable, 
and  had  such  a  good  night  afterward. 

When  a  thing  is  least  expected,  then  it  loves  to  come  to 
pass,  and  then  it  is  enjoyed  the  most,  whatever  good  there 
is  of  it.  After  the  fog  and  the  slur  of  the  day,  to  see  the 
sky  at  all  was  joyful,  although  there  was  but  a  white  moon 
upon  it,  and  faint  stars  gliding  hazily.  And  it  was  a  great 
point  for  every  man  to  be  satisfied  as  to  where  he  was  ; 
because  that  helps  him  vastly  toward  being  satisfied  to  be 
there.  The  men  in  the  pinnace  could  see  exactly  where 
they  were  in  this  world  ;  and  as  to  the  other  world,  their 
place  was  fixed — if  discipline  be  an  abiding  gift — by  the 
stern  precision  of  their  commander  in  ordering  the  lot  of 
them  to  the  devil.  They  carried  all  sail,  and  they  pulled 
six  oars,  and  the  wind  and  sea  ran  after  them. 

"  Ha  !  I  see  something  !"  Carro way  cried,  after  a  league 
or  more  of  swearing.  "  Dick,  the  night-glass  !  my  eyes 
are  sore.  What  do  you  make  her  out  for  ?" 

"  Sir,  she  is  the  Spurn-Head  yawl,"  answered  Dick 
Hackerbody,  who  was  famed  for  long  sight,  but  could  see 
nothing  with  a  telescope.  u  I  can  see  the  patch  of  her 
foresail. ' ' 


BEARDED   Itf   HIS  DEN".  307 

"  She  is  looking  for  us.  We  are  the  wrong  way  of  the 
moon.  Ship  oars,  lads  ;  bear  up  for  her. ' ' 

In  ten  minutes'  time  the  two  boats  came  to  speaking  dis- 
tance off  Bempton  Cliffs,  and  the  windmill,  that  vexed 
Willie  Anerley  so,  looked  bare  and  black  on  the  highland. 
There  were  only  two  men  in  the  Spurn-Head  boat,  not  half 
enough  to  manage  her.  "  Well  !  what  is  it?"  shouted 
Carroway. 

"  Robin  Lyth  has  made  his  land-fall  on  Burlington  sands, 
opposite  your  honor's  door,  sir.  There  was  only  two  of 
us  to  stop  him,  and  the  man  as  is  deaf  and  dumb." 

"  I  know  it,"  said  Carroway,  too  wroth  to  swear.  "  My 
boy  of  eight  years  old  is  worth  the  entire  boiling  of  you. 
You  got  into  a  rabbit-hole  and  ran  to  tell  your  mammy." 

"  Captain,  I  never  had  no  mammy,"  the  other  man  an- 
swered, with  his  feelings  hurt  ;  "  I  come  to  tell  you,  sir  ; 
and  something,  if  you  please,,  for  your  own  ear,  if  agree- 
able." 

"  Nothing  is  agreeable.  But  let  me  have  it.  Hold  on, 
I  will  come  aboard  of  you." 

The  lieutenant  stepped  into  the  Spurn-Head  boat  with 
confident  activity,  and  ordered  his  own  to  haul  off  a  little  ; 
while  the  stranger  bent  down  to  him  in  the  stern,  and  whis- 
pered. 

"  Now  are  you  quite  certain  of  this  ?"  asked  Carroway, 
with  his  grim  face  glowing  in  the  moonlight.  "  I  have 
had  such  a  heap  of  cock  and  bulls  about  it.  Morcom,  are 
you  certain  ?" 

u  As  certain,  sir,  as  that  I  stand  here,  and  you  sit  there, 
commander.  Put  me  under  guard  with  a  pistol  to  my  ear, 
and  shoot  me,  if  it  turns  out  to  be  a  lie. ' ' 

"  The  Dove-cot,  you  say  ?  You  are  quite  sure  of  that, 
and  not  the  Kirk-cave,  or  Lyth's  Hole  ?" 

11  Sir,  the  Dove-cot  and  no  other.  I  had  it  from  my 
own  young  brother,  who  has  been  cheated  of  his  share. 
And  I  know  it  from  my  own  eyes  too." 

"  Then  by  the  Lord  in  heaven,  Morcom,  I  shall  have  my 
revenge  at  last  ;  and  I  shall  not  stand  upon  niceties.  If  I 
call  for  the  jolly-boat,  you  step  in.  I  doubt  if  either  of 
these  will  enter." 


308  MAKY   ANERLEY. 

It  was  more  than  a  fortnight  since  the  lieutenant  had 
received  the  attentions  of  a  barber,  and  when  he  returned  to 
his  own  boat,  and  changed  her  course  inshore,  he  looked 
most  bristly  even  in  the  moonlight.  The  sea  and  the 
moon,  between  them,  gave  quite  light  enough  to  show  how 
gaunt  he  was — the  aspect  of  a  man  who  cannot  thrive,  with- 
out his  children  to  make  play,  and  his  wife  to  do  cookery 
for  him. 


CHAPTER    XXXIY. 

THE     DOVE-COT. 

WITH  the  tiller  in  his  hand,  the  brave  lieutenant  medi- 
tated sadly.  There  was  plenty  of  time  for  thought  before 
quick  action  would  be  needed  ;  although  the  Dove-cot  was 
so  near  that  no  boat  could  come  out  of  it  unseen.  For  the 
pinnace  was  fetching  a  circuit,  so  as  to  escape  the  eyes  of 
any  sentinel,  if  such  there  should  be  at  the  mouth  of  the 
cavern,  and  to  come  upon  the  inlet  suddenly.  And  the  two 
other  revenue-boats  were  in  her  wake. 

The  wind  was  slowly  veering  toward  the  east,  as  the 
Grimsby  man  had  predicted,  with  no  sign  of  any  storm  as 
yet,  but  rather  a  prospect  of  winterly  weather,  and  a 
breeze  to  bring  the  woodcocks  in.  The  gentle  rise  and 
fall  of  waves,  or  rather  perhaps  of  the  tidal  flow,  was 
checkered  and  veined  with  a  ripple  of  the  slanting  breeze, 
and  twinkled  in  the  moonbeams.  For  the  moon  was 
brightly  mounting  toward  her  zenith,  and  casting  bastions 
of  rugged  cliff  in  gloomy  largeness  on  the  mirror  of  the 
sea.  Hugging  these  as  closely  as  their  peril  would  allow, 
Carroway  ordered  silence,  and,  with  the  sense  of  coming 
danger,  thought. 

"  Probably  I  shall  kill  this  man.  He  will  scarcely  be 
taken  alive,  I  fear.  He  is  as  brave  as  myself,  or  braver  ; 
and  in  his  place  I  would  never  yield.  If  he  were  a  French- 
man, it  would  be  all  right.  But  I  hate  to  kill  a  gallant  Eng- 
lishman. And  such  a  pretty  girl,  and  a  good  girl  too,  loves 
him  with  all  her  heart,  I  know.  And  that  good  old  couple, 


THE   DOVE-COT.  300 

who  depend  upon  him,  and  who  have  had  such  shocking 
luck  themselves.  He  has  been  a  bitter  plague  to  me,  and 
often  I  have  longed  to  strike  him  down.  But  to-night — I 
cannot  tell  why  it  is — I  wish  there  was  some  way  out  of  it. 
God  knows  that  I  would  give  up  the  money,  and  give  up 
my  thief-catching  business  too,  if  the  honor  of  the  service 
let  me.  But  duty  drives  me  ;  do  it  I  must.  And,  after  all, 
what  is  life  to  a  man  who  is  young,  and  has  no  children  ? 
Better  over,  better  done  with,  before  the  troubles  and  the 
disappointment  corne,  the  weariness,  and  the  loss  of  power, 
and  the  sense  of  growing  old,  and  seeing  the  little  ones 
hungry.  Life  is  such  a  fleeting  vapor — I  smell  some  man 
sucking  peppermint  !  The  smell  of  it  goes  on  the  wind  for 
a  mile.  Oh,  Cadman  again  as  usual.  Peppermint  in  the 
Eoyal  Coast-guard  !  Away  with  it,  you  ancient  beldame  !" 

Muttering  something  about  his  bad  tooth,  the  man  flung 
his  lozenge  away  ;  and  his  eyes  flashed  fire  in  the  moon- 
light, while  the  rest  grinned  a  low  grin  at  him.  And  Adam 
Andrews,  sitting  next  him,  saw  him  lay  hand  upon  his 
musketoon. 

"Are  your  firelocks  all  primed,  my  lads  ?"  the  com- 
mander asked,  quite  as  if  he  had  seen  him,  although  he  had 
not  been  noticing  ;  and  the  foremost  to  answer  "  Ay,  ay, 
sir,"  was  Cadman. 

4  '  Then  be  sure  that  you  fire  not,  except  at  my  command. 
We  will  take  them  without  shedding  blood,  if  it  may  be. 
But  happen  what  will,  we  must  have  Lyth. " 

With  these  words,  Carroway  drew  his  sword,  and  laid  it 
on  the  bench  beside  him  ;  and  the  rest  (who  would  rather 
use  steel  than  powder)  felt  that  their  hangers  were  ready. 
Few  of  them  wished  to  strike  at  all  ;  for  vexed  as  they 
were  with  the  smugglers  for  having  outwitted  them  so 
often,  as  yet  there  was  no  bad  blood  between  them,  such  as 
must  be  quenched  with  death.  And  some  of  them  had 
friends,  and  even  relatives,  among  the  large  body  of  free- 
traders, and  counted  it  too  likely  that  they  might  be  here. 

Meanwhile  in  the  cave  there  was  rare  work  going  on, 
speedily,  cleverly,  and  with  a  merry  noise.  There  was 
only  one  boat  with  a  crew  of  six  men,  besides  Robin  Lyth 
the  captain  ;  but  the  six  men  made  noise  enough  for  twelve, 


310  MARY   ANERLEY. 

and  the  echoes  made  it  into  twice  enough  for  any  twenty- 
four.  The  crew  were  trusty,  hardy  fellows,  who  liked  their 
joke,  and  could  work  with  it  ;  and  Robin  Lyth  knew  them 
too  well  to  attempt  any  high  authority  of  gagging.  The 
main  of  their  cargo  was  landed  and  gone  inland,  as  snugly 
as  need  be  ;  and  having  kept  beautifully  sober  over  that, 
they  were  taking  the  liberty  of  beginning  to  say,  or  rather 
sip,  the  grace  of  the  fine  indulgence  due  to  them. 

Pleasant  times  make  pleasant  scenes,  and  everything  now 
was  fair  and  large  in  this  happy  cave  of  freedom.  Lights 
of  bright  resin  were  burning,  with  strong  flare  and  fume, 
upon  shelves  of  rock  ;  dark  water  softly  went  lapping  round 
the  sides,  having  dropped  all  rude  habits  at  the  entrance  ; 
and  a  pulse  of  quiet  rise  and  fall  opened,  and  spread  to  the 
discovery  of  light,  tremulous  fronds  and  fans  of  kelp. 
The  cavern,  expanding  and  mounting  from  the  long  narrow 
gut  of  its  inlet,  shone  with  staves  of  snowy  crag  wherever 
the  scour  of  the  tide  ran  round  ;  bulged  and  scooped,  or 
peaked  and  fissured,  and  sometimes  beautifully  sculptured 
by  the  pliant  tools  of  water.  Above  the  tide-reach  darker 
hues  prevailed,  and  more  jagged  outline,  tufted  here  and 
there  with  yellow,  where  the  lichen  freckles  spread.  And 
the  vault  was  framed  of  mountain  fabric,  massed  with 
ponderous  gray  slabs. 

All  below  was  limpid  water,  or  at  any  rate  not  very  muddy, 
but  as  bright  as  need  be,  for  the  time  of  year,  and  a  sea 
which  is  not  tropical.  No  one  may  hope  to  see  the  bot- 
tom, through  ten  feet  of  water,  on  the  Yorkshire  coast, 
toward  the  end  of  the  month  of  November  ;  but  still  it  tries 
to  look  clear  upon  occasion  ;  and  here  in  the  caves  it  settles 
down,  after  even  a  week  free  from  churning.  And  perhaps 
the  fog  outside  had  helped  it  to  look  clearer  inside  ;  for  the 
larger  world  has  a  share  of  the  spirit  of  contrariety  intensi- 
fied in  man. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  water  was  too  clear  for  any  hope 
of  sinking  tubs  deeper  than  Preventive  eyes  could  go  ;  and 
the  very  honest  fellows  who  were  laboring  here  had  not 
brought  any  tubs  to  sink.  All  such  coarse  gear  was  shipped 
off  inland,  as  they  vigorously  expressed  it  ;  and  what  they 


THE   DOVE-COT.  311 

were  concerned  with  now  was  the  cream  and  the  jewel  of 
their  enterprise. 

The  sea  reserved  exclusive  right  of  way  around  the  rocky 
sides,  without  even  a  niche  for  human  foot,  so  far  as  a 
stranger  could  perceive.  At  the  farthermost  end  of  the 
cave,  however,  the  craggy  basin  had  a  lip  of  flinty  pebbles 
and  shelly  sand.  This  was  no  more  than  a  very  narrow 
shelf,  just  enough  for  a  bather  to  plunge  from  ;  but  it  ran 
across  the  broad  end  of  the  cavern,  and  from  its  southern 
corner  went  a  deep  dry  fissure  mounting  out  of  sight 
into  the  body  of  the  cliff.  And  here  the  smugglers  were 
merrily  at  work. 

The  nose  of  their  boat  was  run  high  upon  the  shingle  ; 
two  men  on  board  of  her  were  passing  out  the  bales,  while 
the  other  four  received  them,  and  staggered  with  them  up 
the  cranny.  Captain  Lyth  himself  was  in  the  stern-sheets, 
sitting  calmly,  but  ordering  everything,  and  jotting  down  the 
numbers.  Now  and  then  the  gentle  wash  was  lifting  the 
brown  timbers,  and  swelling  with  a  sleepy  gush  of  hushing 
murmurs  out  of  sight.  And  now  and  then  the  heavy  vault 
was  echoing  with  some  sailor's  song. 

There  was  only  one  more  bale  to  land,  and  that  the  most 
precious  of  the  whole,  being  all  pure  lace  most  closely 
packed  in  a  waterproof  inclosurc.  Robin  Lyth  himself 
was  ready  to  indulge  in  a  careless  song.  For  this,  as  he 
had  promised  Mary,  was  to  be  his  last  illegal  act.  Hence- 
forth, instead  of  defrauding  the ,  revenue,  he  would  most 
loyally  cheat  the  public,  as  every  reputable  tradesman  must. 
How  could  any  man  serve  his  time  more  notably,  toward 
shopkeeping,  and  pave  fairer  way  into  the  corporation  of  a 
grandly  corrupt  old  English  town,  than  by  long  graduation 
of  free-trade  ?  And  Robin  was  yet  too  young  and  careless 
to  know  that  he  could  not  endure  dull  work.  "  How 
pleasant,  how  comfortable,  how  secure, "  he  was  saying  to 
himself,  "  it  will  be  !  I  shall  hardly  be  able  to  believe  that 
I  ever  lived  in  hardship. ' ' 

But  the  great  laws  of  human  nature  were  not  to  be  balked 
so.  Robin  Lyth,  the  prince  of  smugglers,  and  the  type  of 
hardihood,  was  never  to  wear  a  grocer's  apron,  was  never  to 
be  "  licensed  to  sell  tea,  coffee,  tobacco,  pepper,  and 


312  MAIIY  ANEKLEY. 

snuff."  For  while  he  indulged  in  this  Vain  dream,  and  was 
lifting  his  last  most  precious  bale,  a  surge  of  neither  wind 
nor  tide  but  of  hostile  invasion  washed  the  rocks,  and 
broke  beneath  his  feet. 

In  a  moment  all  his  wits  returned,  all  his  plenitude  of 
resource,  and  unequalled  vigor,  and  coolness.  With  his 
left  hand — for  he  was  as  ambidexter  as  a  brave  writer  of 
this  age  requires — he  caught  up  a  handspike,  and  hurled  it 
so  truly  along,  the  line  of  torches  that  only  two  were  left  to 
blink  ;  with  his  right  he  flung  the  last  bale  upon  the  shelf  ; 
then  leaped  out  after  it,  and  hurried  it  away.  Then  he 
sprang  into  the  boat  again,  and  held  an  oar  in  either  hand. 

"  In  the  name  of  the  king,  surrender,"  shouted  Carro- 
way,  standing,  tall  and  grim,  in  the  bow  of  the  pinnace, 
which  he  had  skilfully  driven  through  the  entrance,  leaving 
the  other  boats  outside.  "  We  are  three  to  one,  we  have 
muskets,  and  a  cannon.  In  the  name  of  the  king,  sur- 
render. " 

"  In  the  name  of  the  devil,  splash  I"  cried  Robin,  suit- 
ing the  action  to  the  word,  striking  the  water  with  both 
broad  blades,  while  his  men  snatched  oars,  and  did  the 
same.  A  whirl  of  flashing  water  filled  the  cave,  as  if  with 
a  tempest,  soaked  poor  Carroway,  and  drenched  his  sword, 
and  deluged  the  priming  of  the  hostile  guns.  All  was 
uproar,  turmoil,  and  confusion  thrice  confounded  ;  no  man 
could  tell  where  he  was,  and  the  grappling  boats  reeled  to 
and  fro. 

"  Club  your  muskets  and  at  'cm  !"  cried  the  lieutenant, 
mad  with  rage  as  the  gunwale  of  his  boat  swung  over. 
"  Their  blood  be  upon  their  own  heads  ;  draw  your  hang- 
ers, and  at  'em." 

He  never  spoke  another  word,  but  furiously  leaping  at 
the  smuggler-chief,  fell  back  into  his  own  boat,  and  died, 
without  a  syllable,  without  a  groan.  The  roar  of  a  gun 
and  the  smoke  of  powder  mingled  with  the  watery  hubbub, 
and  hushed  in  a  moment  all  the  oaths  of  conflict. 

The  revenue-men  drew  back  and  sheathed  their  cutlasses, 
and  laid  down  their  guns  ;  some  looked  with  terror  at  one 
another,  and  some  at  their  dead  commander.  His  body  lay 
across  the  heel  of  the  mast,  which  had  been  unstepped  at 


THE    DOVE-COT.  313 

liis  order  ;  and  a  heavy  drip  of  blood  was  weltering  into  a 
ring  upon  the  floor. 

For  several  moments  no  one  spoke,  or  moved,  or  listened 
carefully  ;  but  the  fall  of  the  poor  lieutenant's  death-drops, 
like  the  ticking  of  a  clock,  went  on.  Until  an  old  tar,  who 
had  seen  a  sight  of  battles,  crooked  his  leg  across  a  thwart, 
and  propped  up  the  limp  head  upon  his  doubled  knee. 

"  Dead  as  a  door-nail,"  he  muttered,  after  laying  his 
ear  to  the  lips,  and  one  hand  on  the  too  impetuous  heart. 
"  Who  takes  command  ?  This  is  a  hanging  job,  I'm  think- 
ing." 

There  was  nobody  to  take  command,  not  even  a 
petty  officer.  The  command  fell  to  the  readiest  mind,  as 
it  must  in  such  catastrophes.  ' '  Jem,  you  do  it, ' '  whis- 
pered two  or  three  ;  and  being  so  elected,  he  was  clear. 

"  Lay  her  broadside  on  to  the  mouth  of  the  cave.  Not 
a  man  stirs  out  without  killing  me,"  old  Jem  shouted  ;  and 
to  hear  a  plain  voice  was  sudden  relief  to  most  of  them. 
In  the  wavering  dimness  they  laid  the  pinnace  across  the 
narrow  entrance,  while  the  smugglers  huddled  all  together 
in  their  boat.  u  Burn  two  blue  lights,"  cried  old  Jem, 
and  it  was  done. 

"  I'm  not  going  to  speechify  to  any  cursed  murderers," 
the  old  sailor  said,  with  a  sense  of  authority,  which  made 
him  use  mild  language  ;  "  but  take  heed  of  one  thing,  I'll 
blow  you  all  to  pieces  with  this  here  four-pounder,  without 
you  strikes  peremptory." 

The  brilliance  of  the  blue  lights  filled  the  cavern,  throw- 
ing out  everybody's  attitude  and  features,  especially  those 
of  the  dead  lieutenant.  "  A  fine  job  you  have  made  of  it 
this  time  !"  said  Jem. 

They  were  beaten,  they  surrendered,  they  could  scarcely 
even  speak,  to  assert  their  own  innocence  of  such  a  wicked 
job.  They  submitted  to  be  bound,  and  cast  down  into  their 
boat,  imploring  only  that  it  might  be  there — that  they 
might  not  be  taken  to  the  other  boat  and  laid  beside  the 
corpse  of  Carroway. 

"  Let  the  white-livered  cowards  nave  their  way,"  the 
old  sailor  said  contemptuously.  "  Put  their  captain  on  the 
top  of  them.  Now,  which  is  Robin  Lyth  2" 


314  MARY   AKERLEY. 

The  lights  were  burned  out,  and  the  cave  was  dark  again, 
except  where  a  slant  of  moonlight  came  through  a  fissure 
upon  the  southern  side.  The  smugglers  muttered  some- 
thing, but  they  were  not  heeded. 

"  Never  mind,  make  her  fast,  fetch  her  out,  you  lubbers. 
We  shall  see  him  well  enough  when  we  get  outside. " 

But  in  spite  of  all  their  certainty,  they  failed  of  this. 
They  had  only  six  prisoners,  and  not  one  of  them  was  Lyth. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

LITTLE     CARROWAYS. 

MRS.  CARROWAY  was  always  glad  to  be  up  quite  early  in 
the  morning.  But  some  few  mornings  seemed  to  slip  'in 
between  whiles,  when,  in  accordance  with  human  nature, 
and  its  operations  in  the  baby-stage,  even  Lauta  Carroway 
failed  to  be  about  the  world  before  the  sun  himself. 
Whenever  this  happened  she  was  slightly  cross,  from  the 
combat  of  conscience  and  self-asertion,  which  fly  at  one 
another,  worse  than  any  dog  and  cat.  Geraldine  knew  that 
her  mother  was  put  out  if  any  one  of  the  household  durst 
go  down  the  stairs  before  her.  And  yet  if  Geraldine  her- 
self held  back,  and  followed  the  example  of  late  minutes, 
she  was  sure  "  to  catch  it  worse/'  as  the  poor  child  ex- 
pressed it. 

If  any  active  youth  with  a  very  small  income  (such  as  an 
active  youth  is  pretty  sure  to  have)  wants  a  good  wife,  and 
has  the  courage  to  set  out  with  one,  his  proper  course  is  to 
choose  the  eldest  daughter  of  a  numerous  family.  When 
the  others  come  thickly,  this  daughter  of  the  house  gets 
worked  down  into  a  wonderful  perfection  of  looking  after 
others,  while  she  overlooks  herself.  Such  a  course  is  even 
better  for  her  than  to  have  a  step-mother  ;  which  also  is  a 
goodly  thing,  but  sometimes  leads  to  sourness.  Whereas 
no  girl  of  any  decent  staple  can  revolt  against  her  duty  to 
her  own  good  mother,  and  the  proud  sense  of  fostering  and 
working  for  the  little  ones.  Now  Geraldine  was  wise  in  all 


LITTLE   CAKROWAYS.  315 

these  ways,  and  pleased  to  be  called  tlie  little  woman  of  the 
house. 

The  baby  had  been  troublous  in  the  night,  and  scant  of 
reason,  as  the  rising  race  can  be,  even  while  so  immature  ; 
and  after  being  up  with  it,  and  herself  producing  a  long 
series  of  noises — which  lead  to  peace,  through  the  born 
desire  of  contradiction — the  mother  fell  asleep  at  last,  per- 
haps from  simple  sympathy,  and  slept  beyond  her  usual 
hour.  But  instead  of  being  grateful  for  this,  she  was  angry 
and  bitter  to  any  one  awake  before  her. 

"  I  cannot  tell  why  it  is,"  she  said  to  Geraldine,  who 
was  toasting  a  herring  for  her  brothers  and  sisters,  and 
enjoying  the  smell  (which  was  all  that  she  would  get),  "*hut 
perpetually  now  you  stand  exactly  like  your  father.  There 
is  every  excuse  for  your  father,  because  he  is  an  officer,  and 
has  been  knocked  about,  as  he  always  is  ;  but  there  is  no 
excuse  for  you,  miss.  Put  your  heel  decently  under  your 
dress.  If  we  can  afford  nothing  else,  we  can  surely  afford 
to  behave  well." 

The  child  made  no  answer  ;  but  tucked  her  heel  in,  and 
went  on  toasting  nobly,  while  she  counted  the  waves  on  the 
side  of  the  herring,  where  his  ribs  should  have  been,  if  he 
were  not  too  fat  ;  and  she  mentally  divided  him  into  seven 
pieces  ;  not  one  of  which,  alas,  would  be  for  hungry  Geral- 
dine. ' l  Tom  must  have  two  after  being  out  all  night, ' ' 
she  was  saying  to  herself  ;  "  and  to  grudge  him  would  be 
greedy.  But  the  bit  of  skin  upon  the  toasting-fork  will  be 
for  me,  I  am  almost  sure." 

"  Geraldine,  the  least  thing  you  can  do,  when  I  speak  to 
you,  is  to  answer.  This  morning  you  are  in  a  most  provok- 
ing temper,  and  giving  yourself  the  most  intolerable  airs. 
And  who  gave  you  leave  to  do  your  hair  like  that  ?  One 
would  fancy  that  you  were  some  rising  court-beauty,  or  a 
child  of  the  nobility  at  the  very  least,  instead  of  a  plain  lit- 
tle thing  that  has  to  work,  or  at  any  rate  that  ought  to 
work,  to  help  its  poor  mother  !  Oh,  now  you  are  going  to 
cry,  I  suppose.  Let  me  see  a  tear,  and  you  shall  go  to  bed 
again." 

"  Oh,  mother,  mother,  now,  what  do  you  think  has  hap- 
pened ?"  little  Tom  shouted  as  he  rushed  in  from  the 


316  MAKY   AKERLEY. 

beach  ;  ' '  father  has  caught  all  the  smugglers,  every  one, 
and  the  Royal  George  is  coming  home  before  a  spanking 
breeze  with  three  boats  behind  her,  and  they  can't  be  all 
ours  ;  and  one  of  them  must  belong  to  Robin  Lyth  him- 
self ;  and  I  would  almost  bet  a  penny  they  have  been  and 
shot  him  ;  though  everybody  said  that  he  never  could  be 
shot.  Jerry,  come  and  look  ;  never  mind  the  old  fish.  I 
never  did  see  such  a  sight  in  all  my  life.  They  have  got 
the  jib-sail  on  him,  so  he  must  be  dead  at  last  ;  and  instead 
of  half-a-crown,  I  am  sure  to  get  a  guinea.  Come  along, 
Jerry,  and  perhaps  I'll  give  you  some  of  it." 

"  Tommy,"  said  his  mother,  "  you  are  always  so  im- 
petuous !  I  never  will  believe  in  such  good  luck  until  I  see 
it.  But  you  have  been  a  wonderfully  good,  brave  boy, 
and  your  father  may  thank  you  for  whatever  he  has  done. 
I  shall  not  allow  Geraldine  to  go  ;  for  she  is  not  a  good 
child  this  morning.  And  of  course  I  cannot  go  myself,  for 
your  father  will  come  home  absolutely  starving.  And  it 
would  not  be  right  for  the  little  ones  to  go,  if  things  are  at 
all  as  you  suppose.  Now  if  I  let  you  go  yourself,  you  are 
not  to  go  beyond  the  flagstaff.  Keep  far  away  from  the 
boats,  remember  ;  unless  your  father  calls  for  you  to  run 
on  any  errand.  All  the  rest  of  you  go  in  here,  with  your 
bread  and  milk,  and  wait  until  I  call  you." 

Mrs.  Carroway  locked  all  the  little  ones  in  a  room  from 
which  they  could  see  nothing  of  the  beach  ;  with  orders  to 
Cissy,  the  next  girl,  to  feed  them,  and  keep  them  all  quiet 
till  she  came  again.  But  while  she  was  busy,  with  a  very 
lively  stir,  to  fetch  out  whatever  could  be  found  of  fatness, 
or  grease,  that  could  be  hoped  to  turn  to  gravy  in  the  pan 
— for  Carroway,  being  so  lean,  loved  fat,  and  to  put  a  lish 
before  him  was  an  insult  to  his  bones — just  at  the  moment 
when  she  had  struck  oil,  in  the  shape  of  a  very  fat  chop, 
from  forth  a  stew,  which  had  beaten  all  the  children  by 
stearine  inertia — then  at  this  moment,  when  she  was  rejoic- 
ing, the  latch  of  the  door  clicked,  and  a  man  came  in. 

4 '  Whoever  you  are,  you  seem  to  me  to  make  yourself 
very  much  at  home,"  the  lady  said  sharply,  without  turn- 
ing round,  because  she  supposed  it  to  be  a  well-accustomed 
enemy,  armed  with  that  odious  "  little  bill."  The  intruder 


LITTLE   CARROWAYS.  317 

made  no  answer,  and  she  turned  to  rate  him  thoroughly  ; 
but  the  petulance  of  her  eyes  drew  back  before  the  sad  stern 
gaze  of  his.  "  Who  are  you,  and  what  do  you  want  ?"  she 
asked,  with  a  yellow  dish  in  one  hand,  and  a  frying-pan  in 
the  other.  "  Geraldine,  come  here  ;  that  man  looks  wild." 

Her  visitor  did  look  wild  enough,  but  without  any  men- 
ace in  his  sorrowful  dark  eyes.  "  Can't  the  man  speak  ?' 
she  cried.  "  Are  you  mad  or  starving  ?  We  are  not  very 
rich  ;  but  we  can  give  you  bread,  poor  fellow.  Captain 
Carroway  will  be  at  home  directly,  and  he  will  see  what  can 
be  done  for  you." 

"  Have  you  not  heard  of  the  thing  that  has  been  done  ?" 
the  young  man  asked  her  word  by  word,  and  staying  himself 
with  one  hand  upon  the  dresser,  because  he  was  trembling 
dreadfully. 

"  Yes,  I  have  heard  of  it  all.  They  have  shot  the  smug- 
gler, Robin  Lyth,  at  last.  I  am  very  sorry  for  him.  But 
it  was  needful  ;  and  he  had  no  family. ' ' 

i  i  Lady,  I  am  Robin  Lyth.  I  have  not  been  shot ; 
nor  even  shot  at.  The  man  that  has  been  shot,  I  know 
not  how,  instead  of  me,  was — was  somebody  quite  dif- 
ferent. With  all  my  heart,  I  wish  it  had  been  me  ;  and 
no  more  trouble." 

He  looked  at  the  another  and  the  little  girl,  and  sobbed, 
and  fell  upon  a  salting  stool,  which  was  to  have  been  used 
that  morning.  Then,  while  Mrs.  Carroway  stood  bewil- 
dered, Geraldine  ran  up  to  him,  and  took  his  hand,  and 
said,  "  Don't  cry.  My  papa  says  that  men  never  cry. 
And  I  am  so  glad  that  you  were  not  shot. ' ' 

"  See  me  kiss  her,"  said  Robin  Lyth,  as  he  laid  his  lips 
upon  the  child's  fair  forehead.  "  If  I  had  done  it,  could  I 
do  that  ?  Darling,  you  will  remember  this.  Madam,  I  am 
hunted  like  a  mad  dog,  and  shall  be  hanged  to  your  flag- 
staff if  I  am  caught.  I  am  here  to  tell  you  that,  as  God 
looks  down  from  heaven  upon  you  and  me — I  did  not  do 
it,  I  did  not  even  know  it." 

.  The  smuggler  stood  up,  with  his  right  hand  on  his  heart, 
and  tears  rolling  manifestly  down  his  cheeks,  but  his  eyes  like 
crystal,  clear  with  truth  ;  and  the  woman,  who  knew  not  that 
she  was  a  widow,  but  felt  it  already  with  a  helpless  wonder, 


318  MAKY   AKERLEY. 

answered  quietly,  "  You  speak  the  truth,  sir.  But  what 
difference  can  it  make  to  me  ?"  Lyth  tried  to  answer  with 
the  same  true  look  ;  but  neither  his  eyes  nor  his  tongue 
would  serve. 

"  I  shall  just  go  and  judge  for  myself,"  she  said,  as  if  it 
were  a  question  of  marketing  (such  bitter  defiance  came  over 
her),  and  she  took  no  more  heed  of  him  than  if  he  were  a 
chair  ;  nor  even  half  so  much,  for  she  was  a  great  judge  of 
a  chair.  "  Geraldine,  go  and  put  your  bonnet  on.  We 
are  going  to  meet  your  father.  Tell  Cissy  and  all  the  rest 
to  come  but  the  baby.  The  baby  cannot  do  it,  I  sup- 
pose. In  a  minute  and  a  half,  I  shall  expect  you  all — how 
many  ?  Seven — yes,  seven  of  you. ' ' 

"  Seven,  mother,  yes.  And  the  baby  makes  it  eight  ; 
and  yesterday  you  said  that  he  was  worth  all  us  together. " 

Robin  Lyth  saw  that  he  was  no  more  wanted,  or  even 
heeded  ;  and  without  delay  he  quitted  such  premises  of 
danger.  Why  should  he  linger  in  a  spot  where  he  might 
have  violent  hands  laid  on  him,  and  be  sped  to  a  premature 
end,  without  benefit  even  of  trial  by  jury  ?  Upon  this  train 
of  reasoning,  he  made  off. 

Without  any  manner  of  reasoning  at  all,  but  with  fierce- 
ness of  dread,  and  stupidity  of  grief,  the  mother  collected 
her  children  in  silence,  from  the  damsel  of  ten  to  the  tod- 
dler of  two.  Then,  leaving  the  baby  tied  down  in  the 
cradle,  she  pulled  at  the  rest  of  them,  on  this  side  and  on 
that,  to  get  them  into  proper  trim  of  dresses  and  of  hats,  as 
if  they  were  going  to  be  marched  off  to  church.  For  that  all 
the  younger  ones  made  up  their  minds,  and  put  up  their 
ears  for  the  tinkle  of  the  bell  ;  but  the  elder  children  knew 
that  it  was  worse  than  that,  because  their  mother  never 
looked  at  them. 

u  You  will  go  by  the  way  of  the  station, "  she  said,  for 
the  boats  were  still  out  at  sea,  and  no  certainty  could  be 
made  of  them  ;  ' '  whatever  it  is,  we  may  thank  the  station 
for  it." 

The  poor  little  things  looked  up  at  her  in  wonder  ;  and 
then,  acting  up  to  their  discipline,  set  off,  in  lopsided  pairs 
of  a  small  and  a  big  one,  to  save  any  tumbling  and  cutting 
of  knees.  The  elder  ones  walked  with  discretion,  and  a 


MAIDS   AND   MERMAIDS.  319 

strong  sense  of  responsibility,  hushed,  moreover,  by  some 
inkling  of  a  great  black  thing  to  meet.  But  the  baby  ones 
prattled,  and  skipped  with  their  feet,  and  straggled 
away  toward  the  pebbles  by  the  path.  The  mother  of  them 
all  followed  slowly  and  heavily,  holding  the  youngest  by 
the  hand,  because  of  its  trouble  in  getting  through  the 
stones.  Her  heart  was  nearly  choking,  but  her  eyes  free 
and  reckless,  wandering  wildly  over  earth,  and  sea,  and 
sky,  in  vain  search  of  guidance  from  any,  or  from  all  of 
them. 

The  pinnace  came  nearer,  with  its  sad,  cold  freight.  The 
men  took  off  their  hats,  and  rubbed  their  eyes,  and  some  of 
them  wanted  to  back  off  again  ;  but  Mrs.  Carroway  calmly 
said,  "  Please  to  let  me  have  my  husband/' 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

MAIDS    AND     MERMAIDS. 

DAY  comes  with  climbing,  night  by  falling  ;  hence  the 
night  is  so  much  swifter.  Happiness  takes  years  to  build  ; 
but  misery  swoops  like  an  avalanche.  Such,  and  even  more 
depressing,  are  the  thoughts  young  folk  give  way  to,  when 
their  first  great  trouble  rushes  and  sweeps  them  into  a 
desert,  trackless  to  the  inexperienced  hope. 

When  Mary  Anerley  heard,  by  the  zealous  offices  of 
watchful  friends,  that  Robin  Lyth  had  murdered  Captain 
Carroway  ferociously,  and  fled  for  his  life  across  the  seas — 
first  wrath  at  such  a  lie  was  followed  by  persistent  misery. 
She  had  too  much  faith  in  his  manly  valor  and  tender 
heart  to  accept  the  tale  exactly  as  it  was  told  to  her  ;  but 
still  she  could  not  resist  the  fear,  that  in  the  whirl  of  con- 
flict, with  life  against  life,  he  had  dealt  the  death.  And 
she  knew  that  even  such  a  deed  would  brand  him  as  a  mur- 
derer, stamp  out  all  love,  and  shatter  every  hope  of  quiet 
happiness.  The  blow  to  her  pride  was  grievous  also  ;  for 
many  a  time  had  she  told  herself  that  a  noble  task  lay 
before  her — to  rescue  from  unlawful  ways,  and  redeem  to 


320  MARY   AKERLEY. 

reputable  life,  the  man  whose  bravery  and  other  gallant 
gifts  had  endeared  him  to  the  public  and  to  her.  But  now, 
through  force  of  wretched  facts,  he  must  be  worse  than 
ever. 

Her  father  and  mother  said  never  a  word  upon  the  sub- 
ject to  her.  Mrs.  Anerley  at  first  longed  to  open  out,  and 
shed  upon  the  child  a  mother's  sympathy,  as  well  as  a 
mother's  scolding  ;  but  firmly  believing  as  she  did,  the 
darkest  version  of  the  late  event,  it  was  better  that  she 
should  hold  her  peace,  according  to  her  husband's  orders. 

"  Let  the  lass  alone,77  he  said  ;  "  a  word  against  that 
fellow  now  would  make  a  sight  of  mischief.  Suppose  I 
had  shot  George  Tanfield  instead  of  hiding  him  soundly 
when  he  stuck  up  to  you,  why  you  must  have  been  sorry 
for  me,  Sophy.  And  Mary  is  sorry  for  that  rogue,  no 
doubt,  and  believes  that  he  did  it  for  her  sake,  I  dare  say. 
The  women  kind  always  do  think  that.  If  a  big  thief  gets 
swung  for  breaking  open  a  cash-box,  his  lassie  will  swear 
he  was  looking  for  her  thimble.  If  you  was  to  go  now  for 
discoursing  of  this  matter,  you  would  never  put  up  with 
poor  Poppet's  account  of  him,  and  she  would  run  him 
higher  up  every  time  you  ran  him  down  ;  ay,  and  believe 
it  too  ;  such  is  the  ways  of  women. ' ' 

4  Why,  Stephen,  you  make  me  open  up  my  eyes.  I 
never  dreamed  you  were  half  so  cunning,  and  of  such  low 
opinions  !" 

4  Well,  I  don't  know,  only  from  my  own  observance.  I 
would  scarcely  trust  myself,  not  to  abuse  that  fellow.  And, 
Sophy,  you  know  you  cannot  stop  your  tongue,  like  me." 

u  Thank  God  for  that  same  !  He  never  meant  us  so  to 
do.  But,  Stephen,  I  will  follow  your  advice  ;  because  it 
is  my  own  opinion." 

Mary  was  puzzled  by  this  behavior  ;  for  everything  used 
to  be  so  plain  among  them.  She  would  even  have  tried  for 
some  comfort  from  Willie,  whose  mind  was  very  large  upon 
all  social  questions.  But  Willie  had  solved  at  last  the  prob- 
lem of  perpetual  motion,  according  to  his  own  conviction, 
and  locked  himself  up  with  his  model  all  day  ;  and  the 
world  might  stand  still,  so  long  as  that  went  on.  "  Oh, 
what  would  I  give  for  dear  Jack  !"  cried  Mary. 


MAIDS   AND   MERMAIDS.  321 

Worn  out  at  length  with  lonely  grief,  she  asked  if  she 
might  go  to  Byrsa  Cottage,  for  a  change.  Even  that  was 
refused  ;  though  her  father's  kind  heart  ached  at  the  neces- 
sary denial.  Sharp  words  again  had  passed  between  the 
farmer  and  the  tanner,  concerning  her  ;  and  the  former 
believed  that  his  brother-in-law  would  even  encourage  the 
outlaw  still.  And  for  Mary  herself,  now,  the  worst  of  it 
was  that  she  had  nothing  to  lay  hold  of,  in  the  way  of 
complaint  or  grievance.  It  was  not  like  that  first  estrange- 
ment, when  her  father  showed  how  much  he  felt  it  in  a 
hundred  ways,  and  went  about  everything  upside  down, 
and  comforted  her  by  his  want  of  comfort.  Now  it  was 
ten  times  worse  than  that  ;  for  her  father  took  everything 
quite  easily  ! 

Shocking  as  it  may  be,  this  was  true.  Stephen  Ancrley 
had  been  through  a  great  many  things,  since  the  violence  of 
his  love-time  ;  and  his  views  upon  such  tender  subjects 
were  not  so  tender  as  they  used  to  be.  With  the  eyes  of 
wisdom,  he  looked  back,  having  had  his  own  way  in  the 
matter,  upon  such  young  sensations  as  very  laudable,  but 
curable.  In  his  own  case,  he  had  cured  them  well,  and 
upon  the  whole  very  happily,  by  a  good  long  course  of 
married  life  ;  but  having  tried  that  remedy  alone,  how 
could  he  say  that  there  was  no  better  ?  lie  remembered 
how  his  own  miseries  had  soon  subsided,  or  gone  into  other 
grooves,  after  matrimony.  This  showed  that  they  were 
transient,  but  did  not  prove  such  a  course  to  be  the  only 
cure  for  them.  Recovering  from  illness,  has  any  man  been 
known  to  say  that  the  doctor  recovered  him  ? 

Mrs.  Anerley's  views  upon  the  subject  were  much  the 
same,  though  modified,  of  course,  by  the  force  of  her  own 
experience.  She  might  have  had  a  much  richer  man  than 
Stephen  ;  and  when  he  was  stingy,  she  reminded  him  of 
that  ;  which,  after  a  little  disturbance,  generally  terminated 
in  five  guineas.  And  now  she  was  clear  that  if  Mary  were 
not  worried,  condoled  with,  or  cried  over,  she  would  take 
her  own  time,  and  come  gradually  round,  and  be  satisfied 
with  Harry  Tanfield.  Harry  was  a  fine  young  fellow,  and 
worshipped  the  ground  that  Mary  walked  upon,  and  it 
seemed  a  sort  of  equity  that  he  should  have  her,  as  his 

21 


322  MAHY    ANERLEY. 

father  had  been  disappointed  of  her  mother.  Every  Sun- 
day morning,  he  trimmed  his  whiskers,  and  put  on  a  won- 
derful waistcoat  ;  and  now  he  did  more,  for  he  bought  a 
new  hat,  and  came  to  church  to  look  at  her. 

Oftentimes  now,  by  all  these  doings,  the  spirit  of  the 
girl  was  roused,  and  her  courage  made  ready  to  fly  out  in 
words  ;  but  the  calm  look  of  the  elders  stopped  her,  and 
then  true  pride  came  to  her  aid.  If  they  chose  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  matter  which  was  in  her  heart  continually,  would 
she  go  whining  to  them  about  it,  and  scrape  a  grain  of  pity 
from  a  cart-load  of  contempt  ?  One  day  as  she  stood  be- 
fore the  swinging-glass — that  present  from  Aunt  Popplewell, 
which  had  moved  her  mother's  wrath  so — she  threw  back 
her  shoulders,  and  smoothed  the  plaits  of  her  nice  little 
waist,  and  considered  herself.  The  humor  of  the  moment 
grew  upon  her,  and  crept  into  indulgence,  as  she  saw  what 
a  very  fair  lass  she  was,  and  could  not  help  being  proud  of 
it.  She  saw  how  the  soft  rich  damask  of  her  cheeks  re- 
turned at  being  thought  of,  and  the  sparkle  of  her  sweet 
blue  eyes,  and  the  merry  delight  of  her  lips,  that  made 
respectable  people  want  to  steal  a  kiss,  from  the  pure  entice- 
ment of  good-will. 

4 '  I  will  cry  no  more,  in  the  nights, ' '  she  said.  ' '  Why 
should  I  make  such  a  figure  of  myself,  with  nobody  to  care 
for  it  ?  And  here  is  my  hair  full  of  kinkles  and  neglect  !  I 
declare,  if  he  ever  came  back  he  would  say,  i  What  a 
fright  you  are  become,  my  Mary  ! '  Where  is  that  stuff  of 
Aunt  Deborah's,  I  wonder,  that  makes  her  hair  like  satin  ? 
It  is  high  time  to  leave  off  being  such  a  dreadful  dowdy. 
I  will  look  as  nice  as  ever,  just  to  let  them  know  that  their 
cruelty  has  not  killed  me." 

Virtuous  resolves  commend  themselves,  and  improve  with 
being  carried  out.  She  put  herself  into  her  very  best  trim, 
as  simple  as  a  lily,  and  as  perfect  as  a  rose  ;  though  the 
flutter  of  a  sigh  or  two  enlarged  her  gentle  breast.  She 
donned  a  very  graceful  hat,  adorned  with  sweet  ribbon 
right  skilfully  smuggled  ;  and  she  made  up  her  mind  to 
have  the  benefit  of  the  air. 

The  prettiest  part  of  all  Anerley  Farm,  for  those  who  are 
not  farmers,  is  a  soft  little  valley,  where  a  brook  comes 


MAIDS   AND   MERMAIDS.  323 

down,  and  passes  from  voluntary  ruffles  into  the  quiet  resig- 
nation of  a  sheltered  lake.  A  pleasant  and  a  friendly  little 
waterspread  is  here,  cheerful  to  the  sunshine,  and  inviting  to 
the  moon,  with  a  variety  of  gleamy  streaks,  according  to 
the  sky  and  breeze.  Pasture-land,  and  arable,  come  sloping 
to  the  margin,  which,  instead  of  being  rough  and  rocky,  lips 
the  pool  with  gentleness.  Ins  and  outs  of  little  bays  afford 
a  nice  variety,  while  round  the  brink  are  certain  trees  of 
a  modest  and  unpretentious  bent.  These,  having  risen  to  a 
very  fair  distance  toward  the  sky,  come  down  again, 
scarcely  so  much  from  a  doubt  of  their  merits,  as  through 
affection  to  their  native  land.  In  summer  they  hang,  like  a 
permanent  shower  of  green,  to  refresh  the  bright  water  ; 
and  in  winter,  like  loose  osier-work,  or  wattles  curved  for 
binding. 

Under  one  of  the  largest  of  these  willows,  the  runaway 
Jack  had  made  a  seat,  whereon  to  sit,  and  watch  his  toy- 
boat  cruising  on  the  inland  wave.  Often,  when  Mary  was 
tired  of  hoping  for  the  return  of  her  playmate,  she  came 
to  this  place  to  think  about  him,  and  wonder  whether  he 
thought  of  her.  And  now  in  the  soft  December  evening 
(lonely  and  sad,  but  fair  to  look  at,  like  herself)  she  was 
sitting  here. 

The  keen  east  wind,  which  had  set  in  as  Captain  Brown 
predicted,  was  over  now  and  succeeded  by  the  gentler 
influence  of  the  west.  Nothing  could  be  heard  in  this  calm 
nook  but  the  lingering  touch  of  the  dying  breeze,  and  the 
long  soft  murmur  of  the  distant  sea,  and  the  silvery  plash  of 
a  pair  of  coots  at  play.  Neither  was  much  to  be  seen,  ex- 
cept the  wavering  light,  and  long  shadows  of  the  mere,  the 
tracery  of  trees  against  the  fading  sky,  and  the  outline  of 
the  maiden,  as  she  leaned  against  the  trunk.  Generations 
of  goat-moths,  in  their  early  days  of  voracity,  had  made  a 
nice  hollow  for  her  hat  to  rest  in,  and  some  of  the  powdering 
willow  dusted  her  bright  luxuriant  locks  with  gold.  Her 
face  was  by  no  means  wan  or  gloomy,  and  she  added  to  the 
breezes  not  a  single  sigh.  This  happened  without  any  hard- 
ness of  heart,  or  shallow  contempt  of  the  nobler  affections  ; 
simply  from  the  hopefulness  of  healthful  youth,  and  the 
trust  a  good-will  has  in  powers  of  good. 


324  MARY   ANEULEY. 

She  was  looking  at  those  coots,  who  were  full  of  an  idea 
that  the  winter  had  spent  itself  in  that  east  wind,  that  the 
gloss  of  spring  plumage  must  be  now  upon  their  necks,  and 
that  they  felt  their  toes  growing  warmer  toward  the  downy 
tepefaction  of  a  perfect  nest.  Improving  a  long  and  kind 
acquaintance  with  these  birds,  some  of  whom  have  confi- 
dence in  human  nature,  Mary  was  beginning  to  be  absent 
from  her  woes,  and  joyful  in  the  pleasure  of  a  thoughtless 
pair  ;  when  suddenly,  with  one  accord,  they  dived,  and  left 
a  bright  splash  and  a  wrinkle.  "  Somebody  is  coming. 
They  must  have  seen  an  enemy,"  said  the  damself  to  her- 
self ;  u  I  am  sure  I  never  moved.  I  will  never  have  them 
shot  by  any  wicked  poacher.'7  To  watch  the  bank  nicely, 
without  being  seen,  she  drew  in  her  skirt  and  shrank  be- 
hind the  tree,  not  from  any  fear,  but  just  to  catch  that  fel- 
low ;  for  one  of  the  laborers  on  the  farm,  who  had  run  at 
his  master  with  a  pitchfork  once,  was  shrewdly  suspected  of 
poaching  with  a  gun.  But  keener  eyes  than  those  of  any 
poacher  were  upon  her,  and  the  lightest  of  light  steps  ap- 
proached. 

"  Oh,  Robin,  are  you  come  then,  at  last  ?"   cried  Mary. 

44  Three  days  I  have  been  lurking,  in  the  hope  of  this. 
Heart  of  my  heart,  are  you  glad  to  see  me  ?" 

4 '  I  should  think  that  I  was.  It  is  worth  a  world  of  cry- 
ing. Oh,  where  have  you  been,  this  long,  long  time  ?" 

* '  Let  me  have  you  in  my  arms,  if  it  is  but  for  a  moment. 
You  are  not  afraid  of  me — you  are  not  ashamed  to  love 
me?'7 

* '  I  love  you  all  the  better  for  your  many  dreadful  trou- 
bles. Not  a  word  do  I  believe  of  all  the  wicked  people 
say  of  you.  Don't  be  afraid  of  me.  You  may  kiss  me 
Robin." 

"  You  are  such  a  beautiful  spick  and  span  !  And  I  am 
only  fit  to  go  into  the  pond.  Oh,  Mary,  what  a  shame  of 
me,  to  take  advantage  of  you  !" 

44  Well,  I  think  that  it  is  time  for  you  to  leave  off  now. 
Though  you  must  not  suppose  that  I  think  twice  about  my 
things.  When  I  look  at  you,  it  makes  me  long  to  give  you 
my  best  cloak  and  a  tidy  hat.  Oh,  where  is  all  your  finery 
gone,  poor  Robin  ?" 


MAIDS  AND   MERMAIDS.  325 

"  Endeavor  not  to  be  insolent,  on  the  strength  of  your 
fine  clothes.  Remember  that  I  have  abandoned  free-trade  ; 
and  the  price  of  every  article  will  rise  at  once." 

Mary  Anerley  not  only  smiled,  but  laughed,  with  the 
pleasure  of  a  great  relief.  She  had  always  scorned  the  idea 
that  her  lover  had  even  made  a  shot  at  Carroway,  often 
though  the  brave  lieutenant  had  done  the  like  to  him  ;  and 
now  she  felt  sure  that  he  could  clear  himself  ;  or  how  could 
he  be  so  light-hearted  ? 

"  You  see  that  I  am  scarcely  fit  to  lead  off  a  country- 
dance  with  you,"  said  Robin,  still  holding  both  her  hands, 
and  watching  the  beauty  of  her  clear  bright  eyes,  which 
might  gather  big  tears  at  any  moment,  as  the  deep  blue  sky 
is  a  sign  of  sudden  rain  ;  "  and  it  will  be  a  very  long  time, 
my  darling,  before  you  see  me  in  gay  togs  again." 

"I  like  you  a  great  deal  better  so.  You  always  look 
brave — but  you  look  so  honest  now  ?" 

' '  That  is  a  most  substantial  saying  ;  and  worthy  of  the 
race  of  Anerley.  How  I  wish  that  your  father  would  like 
me,  Mary  !  I  suppose  it  is  hopeless  to  wish  for  that." 

"  No,  not  at  all — if  you  could  keep  on  looking  shabby. 
My  dear  father  has  a  most  generous  mind.  If  he  only  could 
be  brought  to  see  how  you  are  ill-treated — " 

"  Alas,  I  shall  have  no  chance  of  letting  him  see  that. 
Before  to-morrow  morning,  I  must  say  good-by  to  Eng- 
land. My  last  chance  of  seeing  you  was  now  this  evening. 
I  bless  every  star  that  is  in  the  heaven  now.  I  trusted  to 
my  luck  ;  and  it  has  not  deceived  me." 

u  Robin  dear,  I  never  wish  to  try  to  be  too  pious.  But 
I  think  that  you  should  rather  trust  in  Providence  than 
starlight. ' ' 

"  So  I  do.  And  it  is  Providence  that  has  kept  me  out 
of  sight.  Out  of  sight  of  enemies,  and  in  sight  of  yon,  my 
Mary.  The  Lord  looks  down  on  every  place  where  His 
lovely  angels  wander.  You  are  one  of  His  angels,  Mary  ; 
and  you  have  made  a  man  of  me.  For  years  I  shall  not  see 
you,  darling  ;  never  more  again,  perhaps.  But  as  long  as 
I  live,  you  will  be  here  ;  and  the  place  shall  be  kept  pure 
for  you.  If  we  only  could  have  a  shop  together — oh,  how 
honest  I  would  be  !  I  would  give  full  weight  besides  the 


326  MART    AXERLEY. 

paper  ;  I  would  never  sell  an  egg  more  than  three  weeks 
old  ;  and  I  would  not  even  adulterate  !  But  that  is  a  dream 
of  the  past,  I  fear.  Oh,  I  never  shall  hoist  the  Royal 
Arms.  But  I  mean  to  serve  under  them,  and  fight  my 
way.  My  captain  shall  be  Lord  Nelson. " 

lt  That  is  the  very  thing  that  you  were  meant  for.  I  will 
never  forgive  Dr.  Upandown,  for  not  putting  you  into  the 
navy.  You  could  have  done  no  smuggling  then.'7 

"  I  am  not  altogether  sure  of  that.  However  I  will  shun 
scandal  ;  as  behoves  a  man  who  gets  so  much.  You  have 
not  asked  me  to  clear  myself  of  that  horrible  thing  about 
poor  Carroway.  I  love  you  the  more  for  not  asking  me  ; 
it  shows  your  faith  so  purely.  But  you  have  the  right  to 
known  all  I  know  ;  there  is  no  fear  of  any  interruption 
here  ;  so  Mary,  I  will  tell  you  ;  if  you  are  sure  that  you  can 
bear  it." 

"  Yes,  oh,  yes  !  do  tell  me  all  you  know.  It  is  so  fright- 
ful that  I  must  hear  it." 

"  What  I  have  to  say  will  not  frighten  you,  darling, 
because  I  did  not  even  see  the  deed.  But  my  escape  was 
rather  strange,  and  deserves  telling  better  than  I  can  tell  it, 
even  with  you  to  encourage  me  by  listening.  When  we 
were  so  suddenly  caught  in  the  cave,  through  treachery  of 
some  of  our  people,  I  saw  in  a  moment  that  we  must  be 
taken,  but  resolved  to  have  some  fun  for  it,  with  a  kind  of 
whim  which  comes  over  me  sometimes.  So  I  knocked 
away  the  lights,  and  began  myself  to  splash  with  might  and 
main,  and  ordered  the  rest  to  do  likewise.  We  did  it  so 
well  that  the  place  was  like  a  fountain  or  a  geyser  ;  and  I 
sent  a  great  dollop  of  water  into  the  face  of  the  poor  lieu- 
tenant— the  only  assault  I  have  ever  made  upon  him. 
There  was  just  light  enough  for  me  to  know  him,  because 
he  was  so  tall  and  strange  ;  but  I  doubt  whether  he  knew 
me  at  all.  He  became  excited,  as  he  well  might  be,  he 
dashed  away  the  water  from  his  eyes  with  one  hand,  and 
with  the  other  made  a  wild  sword-cut,  rushing  forward  as 
if  to  have  at  me.  Like  a  bird,  I  dived  into  the  water  from 
our  gunwale,  and  under  the  keel  of  the  other  boat,  and  rose 
to  the  surface  at  the  far  side  of  the  cave.  In  the  very  act 
of  plunging,  a  quick  flash  came  before  me  ;  or  at  least  I 


*    MAIDS   AND   MERMAIDS.  o%7 

believed  so  afterward,  and  a  loud  roar,  as  I  struck  the 
wave.  It  might  have  beeu  only  from  my  own  eyes  and 
ears  receiving  so  suddenly  the  cleavage  of  the  water.  If  I 
thought  anything  at  all  about  it,  it  was  that  somebody  had 
shot  at  me  ;  but  expecting  to  be  followed,  I  swam  rapidly 
away.  I  did  not  even  look  back,  as  I  kept  in  the  dark  of 
the  rocks,  for  it  would  have  lost  a  stroke,  and  a  stroke  was 
more  than  I  could  spare.  To  my  great  surprise,  I  heard  no 
sound  of  any  boat  coming  after  me,  nor  any  shouts  of  Car- 
roway,  such  as  I  am  accustomed  to.  But  swimming  as  I 
was,  for  my  own  poor  life,  like  an  otter  with  a  pack  of 
hounds  after  him,  I  assure  you  I  did  not  look  much  after 
anything,  except  my  own  run  of  the  gauntlet. ' ' 

"  Of  course  not.  How  could  you  ?  It  makes  me  draw 
my  breath,  to  think  of  you  swimming  in  the  dark  like  that, 
with  deep  water,  and  caverns,  and  guns,  and  all  !" 

4 '  Mary,  I  thought  that  my  time  was  come  ;  and  only  one 
beautiful  image  sustained  me,  when  I  came  to  think  of  it 
afterward.  I  swam  with  my  hands  well  under  water,  and 
not  a  breath  that  could  be  heard,  and  my  cap  tucked  into 
my  belt,  and  my  sea-going  pumps  slipped  away  into  a 
pocket.  The  water  was  cold,  but  it  only  seemed  to 
freshen  me,  and  I  found  myself  able  to  breathe  very  pleas- 
antly in  the  gentle  rise  and  fall  of  waves.  Yet  I  never  ex- 
pected to  escape,  with  so  many  boats  to  come  after  me. 
For  now  I  could  see  two  boats  outside,  as  well  as  old  Car- 
roway's  pinnace  in  the  cave  ;  and  if  once  they  caught  sight 
of  me,  I  could  never  get  away. 

"  When  I  saw  those  two  boats  upon  the  watch  outside,  I 
scarcely  knew  what  to  do  for  the  best,  whether  to  put  my 
breast  to  it  and  swim  out,  or  to  hide  in  some  niche  with  my 
body  under  water,  and  cover  my  face  with  oar-weed. 
Luckily  I  took  the  bolder  course,  remembering  their  port- 
fires, which  would  make  the  cave  like  day.  Not  everybody 
could  have  swam  out  through  that  entrance  against  a  spring 
tide  and  the  lollop  of  the  sea  ;  and  one  dash  against  the 
rocks  would  have  settled  me.  But  I  trusted  in  the  Lord, 
and  tried  a  long,  slow  stroke. 

"  My  enemies  must  have  been  lost  in  dismay,  and  panic, 
and  utter  confusion,  or  else  they  must  have  espied  me,  for 


328  MAKY   ASTEBLEY. 

twice,  or  thrice,  as  I  met  the  waves,  my  head  and  shoulders 
were  thrown  above  the  surface,  do  what  I  would  ;  and  I 
durst  not  dive,  for  I  wanted  my  eyes  every  moment.  I 
kept  on  the  darkest  side,  of  course,  but  the  shadows  were 
not  half  so  deep  as  I  could  wish  ;  and  most  of  all,  outside 
there  was  a  piece  of  moonlight,  which  I  must  cross  within 
fifty  yards  of  the  bigger  of  the  sentry  boats. 

"  The  mouth  of  that  cave  is  two  fathoms  wide  for  a 
longish  bit  of  channel  ;  and,  Mary  dear,  if  I  had  not  been 
supported  by  continual  thoughts  of  you,  I  must  have  gone 
against  the  sides,  or  downright  to  the  bottom,  from  the 
waves  keeping  knocking  me  about  so.  I  may  tell  you,  that 
I  felt  that  I  should  never  care  again,  as  my  clothes  began  to 
bag  about  me,  except  to  go  down  to  the  bottom  and  be 
quiet,  but  for  the  blessed  thought  of  standing  up  some  day 
at  the  *  hymeneal  altar,'  as  great  people  call  it,  with  a  cer- 
tain lovely  Mary." 

"  Oh,  Robin,  now,  you  make  me  laugh,  when  I  ought 
to  be  quite  crying.  If  such  a  thing  should  ever  be,  I  shall 
expect  to  see  you  swimming. ' ' 

"  Such  a  thing  will  be,  as  sure  as  I  stand  here  ;  though 
not  at  all  in  hymeneal  garb  just  now.  Whatever  my  whole 
heart  is  set  upon,  I  do,  and  overcome  all  obstacles.  Re- 
member that,  and  hold  fast,  darling.  However,  I  had  now 
to  overcome  the  sea,  which  is  worse  than  any  tide  in  the 
affairs  of  men.  A  long  and  hard  tussle  it  was,  I  assure 
you,  to  fight  against  the  in-draught,  and  to  drag  my  frame 
through  the  long  hillocky  gorge.  At  last,  however,  I  man- 
aged it  ;  and  to  see  the  open  waves  again  put  strength  into 
my  limbs,  and  vigor  into  my  knocked-about  brain.  I  sup- 
pose that  you  cannot  understand  it,  Mary  ;  but  I  never 
enjoyed  a  thing  more  than  the  danger  of  crossing  that  strip 
of  moonlight.  I  could  see  the  very  eyes  and  front  teeth  of 
the  men,  who  were  sitting  there  to  look  out  for  me,  if  I 
should  slip  their  mates  inside  ;  and  knowing  the  twist  of 
every  wave,  and  the  vein  of  every  tide-run,  I  rested  in  a 
smooth  dark  spot,  and  considered  their  manners  quietly. 
They  had  not  yet  heard  a  word  of  any  doings  in  the  cavern, 
but  their  natures  were  up  for  some  business  to  do,  as  gen- 


MAIDS   AND   MKHMAIDS.  320 

erally  happens  with  beholders.  Having  nothing  to  do, 
they  were  swearing  at  the  rest. 

44  In  the  place  where  I  was  halting  now,  the  line  of  a 
jagged  cliff  seemed  to  cut  the  air,  and  fend  off  the  light 
from  its  edges.  You  can  only  see  such  a  thing  from  the 
level  of  the  sea,  and  it  looks  very  odd  when  you  see  it,  as  if 
the  moon  and  you  were  a  pair  of  playing  children,  feeling 
round  a  corner  for  a  glimpse  of  one  another.  But  plain 
enough  it  was,  and  far  too  plain,  that  the  doubling  of  that 
little  cape  would  treble  my  danger,  by  reason  of  the  bold 
moonlight.  I  knew  that  my  only  refuge  was  another  great 
hollow  in  the  crags  between  the  cave  I  had  escaped  from 
and  the  point — a  place  which  is  called  the  l  Church  Cave,' 
from  an  old  legend  that  it  leads  up  to  Flamborough  church. 
To  the  best  of  my  knowledge  it  does  nothing  of  the  kind, 
at  any  rate  now  ;  but  it  has  a  narrow  fissure  known  to  few 
except  myself,  up  which  a  nimble  man  may  climb  ;  and 
this  was  what  I  hoped  to  do.  Also  it  has  a  very  narrow 
entrance,  through  which  the  sea  flows  into  it,  so  that  a  large 
boat  cannot  enter,  and  a  small  one  would  scarcely  attempt 
it  in  the  dark,  unless  it  were  one  of  my  own,  hard-pressed. 
Now  it  seemed  almost  impossible  for  me  to  cross  that  moon- 
light, without  being  seen  by  those  fellows  in  the  boat,  who 
could  pull  of  course  four  times  as  fast  as  I  could  swim,  not 
to  mention  the  chances  of  a  musket-ball.  However,  I  was 
just  about  to  risk  it,  for  my  limbs  were  growing  very  cold, 
when  I  heard  a  loud  shout  from  the  cave  which  I  had  left, 
and  knew  that  the  men  there  were  summoning  their  com- 
rades. These  at  once  lay  out  upon  their  oars,  and  turned 
their  backs  to  me,  and  now  was  my  good  time.  The  boat 
came  hissing  through  the  water  toward  the  Dove-cot,  while 
I  stretched  away  for  the  other  snug  cave  ;  being  all  in  a 
flurry,  they  kept  no  lookout  ;  if  the  moon  was  against  me, 
my  good  stars  were  in  my  favor.  Nobody  saw  me,  and  I 
laughed  in  my  wet  sleeves,  as  I  thought  of  the  rage  of  Car- 
roway,  little  knowing  that  the  fine  old  fellow  was  beyond 
all  rage  or  pain." 

"  How  wonderful  your  luck  was,  and  your  courage 
too  !"  cried  Mary,  who  had  listened  with  bright  tears  upon 
her  checks.  ll  Not  one  man  in  a  thousand  could  have  done 


330  MARY    ANERLEY. 

so  bold  a  thing.  And  how  did  you  get  away  at  last,  poor 
Robin  ?" 

"  Exactly  a"s  I  meant  to  do,  from  the  time  I  formed  my 
plan.  The  Church  has  ever  been  a  real  friend  in  need  to 
me  ;  I  took  the  name  for  a  lucky  omen,  and  swam  in  with 
a  brisker  stroke.  It  is  the  prettiest  of  all  the  caves  to  my 
mind,  though  the  smallest,  with  a  sweet  round  basin,  and  a 
playful  little  beach,  and  nothing  very  terrible  about  it.  I 
landed  and  rested  with  a  thankful  heart,  upon  the  shelly 
couch  of  the  mermaids. " 

"  Oh,  Robin,  I  hope  none  of  them  came  to  you.  They 
are  so  wonderfully  beautiful.  And  no  one  that  ever  has 
seen  them  cares  any  more  for — for  dry  people  that  wear 
dresses. ' ' 

"  Mary,  you  delight  me  much  by  showing  signs  of  jeal- 
ousy. Fifty  may  have  come,  but  I  saw  not  one,  for  I  fell 
into  a  deep  calm  sleep.  If  they  had  come,  I  would  have 
spurned  them  all,  not  only  from  my  constancy  to  you,  my 
dear,  but  from  having  had  too  much  drip  already.  Mary,  I 
see  a  man  on  the  other  side  of  the  mere,  not  opposite  to  us 
but  a  good  bit  farther  down.  You  sec  those  two  swim- 
ming birds — look  far  away  between  them,  you  will  see  some- 
thing moving.'' 

"  I  see  nothing,  either  standing  still  or  moving.  It  is 
growing  too  dark  for  any  eyes  not  thoroughly  trained  in 
smuggling.  But  that  reminds  me  to  tell  you,  Robin,  that 
a  strange  man — a  gentleman  they  seemed  to  say — has  been 
seen  upon  our  land,  and  he  wanted  to  see  me,  without  my 
father  knowing  it.  But  only  think  !  I  have  never  even 
asked  you  whether  you  are  hungry — perhaps  even  starving  ! 
How  stupid,  how  selfish,  how  churlish  of  me  !  But  the 
fault  is  yours,  because  I  had  so  much  to  hear  of." 

44  Darling,  you  may  trust  me  not  to  starve.  I  can  feed 
by  and  by.  For  the  present  I  must  talk,  that  you  may 
know  all  about  everything,  and  bear  me  harmless  in  your 
mind,  when  evil  things  are  said  of  me.  Have  you  heard 
that  I  went  to  see  Widow  Carroway,  even  before  she  had 
heard  of  her  loss,  but  not  before  I  was  hunted  ?  I  knew 
that  I  must  do  so,  now  or  never,  before  the  whole  world 
was  up  in  arms  against  me  ;  and  I  thank  God  that  I  saw 


MAIDS   AXD   MERMAIDS.  331 

her.  A  man  might  think  nothing  of  such  an  act,  or  even 
might  take  it  for  hypocrisy  ;  but  a  woman's  heart  is  not  so 
black.  Though  she  did  not  even  know  what  I  meant,  for 
she  had  not  felt  her  awful  blow,  and  I  could  not  tell  her  of 
it,  she  did  me  justice  afterward.  In  the  thick  of  her  terri- 
ble desolation,  she  stood  beside  her  husband's  grave,  in 
Bridlington  Priory  Churchyard,  and  she  said  to  a  hundred 
people  there,  '  Here  lies  my  husband,  foully  murdered.  The 
coroner's  jury  have  brought  their  verdict  against  Robin  Lyth, 
the  smuggler.  Robin  Lyth  is  as  innocent  as  I  am.  I  know 
who  did  it,  and  time  will  show.  My  curse  is  upon  him  ; 
and  my  eyes  are  on  him  now.'  Then  she  fell  down  in  a 
fit,  and  the  Preventive  men,  who  were  drawn  up  in  a  row, 
came  and  carried  her  away.  Did  anybody  tell  you,  darling  ? 
Perhaps  they  keep  such  things  from  you." 

"  Part  of  it  I  heard  ;  but  not  so  clearly.  I  was  told  that 
she  acquitted  you  ;  and  I  blessed  her  in  my  heart  for  it." 

u  Even  more  than  that  she  did.  As  soon  as  she  got 
home  again,  she  wrote  to  Robin  Cockscroft — a  very  few 
words,  but  as  strong  as  could  be  ;  telling  him  that  I  should 
have  no  chance  of  justice  if  I  were  caught  just  now  ;  that 
she  must  have  time  to  carry  out  her  plans  ;  that  the  Lord 
would  soon  raise  up  good  friends  to  help  her,  and  as  sure  as 
there  was  a  God  in  heaven,  she  would  bring  the  man  who 
did  it  to  the  gallows.  Only  that  I  must  leave  the  land  at 
once.  And  that  is  what  I  shall  do  this  very  night.  Now 
I  have  told  you  almost  all.  Mary,  we  must  say  i  good- 
by.'  " 

"  But  surely  I  shall  hear  from  you  sometimes?"  said 
Mary,  striving  to  be  brave,  and  to  keep  her  voice  from 
trembling.  "  Years  and  years,  without  a  word — and  the 
whole  world  bitter  against  you  and  me  !  Oh,  Robin,  I 
think  that  it  will  break  my  heart  !  Arid  I  must  not  even  talk 
of  you  !" 

"  Think  of  me,  darling,  while  I  think  of  you.  Thinking 
is  better  than  talking.  I  shall  never  talk  of  you,  but  be 
thinking  all  the  more.  Talking  ruins  thinking.  Take  this 
token  of  the  time  you  saved  me,  and  give  me  that  bit  of 
blue  ribbon,  my  Mary  ;  I  shall  think  of  your  eye?,  every 
time  I  kiss  it.  Kiss  it  yourself  boforo  you  give  it  to  me." 


332  MARY   ANEftLEY. 

Like  a  good  girl,  she  did  what  she  was  told  to  do.  She 
gave  him  the  love-knot  from  her  breast,  and  stored  his  little 
trinket  in  that  pure  shrine. 

"  But  sometimes — sometimes,  I  shall  hear  of  you  ?"  she 
whispered,  lingering  and  trembling  in  the  last  embrace. 

44  To  be  sure,  you  shall  hear  of  me  from  time  to  time, 
through  Robin  and  Joan  Cockscroft.  I  will  not  grieve  you, 
by  saying,  4  be  true  to  me/  my  noble  one,  and  my  ever- 
lasting love." 

Mary  was  comforted  and  ceased  to  cry.  She  was  proud 
of  him  thus  in  the  depth  of  his  trouble  ;  and  she  prayed  to 
God  to  bless  him  through  the  long  sad  time. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

FACT  OR    FACTOR. 

u  PAPA,  I  have  brought  you  a  wonderful  letter,''  cried 
Miss  Janetta  Upround,  toward  supper-time  of  that  same 
night  ;  "  and  the  most  miraculous  thing  about  it  is  that 
there  is  no  post  to  pay.  Oh,  how  stupid  I  am  !  I  ought 
to  have  got  at  least  a  shilling  out  of  you  for  postage." 

"  My  dear,  be  sorry  for  your  sins,  and  not  for  having 
failed  to  add  to  them.  Our  little  world  is  brimful  of  news 
just  now  ;  but  nearly  all  of  it  bad  news.  Why,  bless  me, 
this  is  in  regular  print,  and  it  never  has  passed  through  the 
post  at  all,  which  explains  the  most  astounding  fact  of 
positively  naught  to  pay.  Janetta,  every  day  I  congratulate 
myself  upon  such  a  wondrous  daughter.  But  I  never  could 
have  hoped  that  even  you  would  bring  me  a  letter  gratis." 

"  But  the  worst  of  it  is  that  I  deserve  no  credit.  If  I 
had  cheated  the  postman  there  would  have  been  something 
to  be  proud  of.  But  this  letter  came  in  the  most  ignomin- 
ious way — poked  under  the  gate,  papa  !  It  is  sealed  with 
a  foreign  coin  !  Oh,  dear,  dear,  I  am  all  in  a  tingle  to 
know  all  about  it  !  I  saw  it  by  the  moonlight,  and  it  must 
belong  to  me." 

"  My   dear,    it  says,  '  Private,  and  to  his  own  hands.' 


FACT   Oil   FACTOR.  333 

Therefore  you  had  better  go,  and  think  no  more  about  it. 
I  confide  to  you  many  of  my  business  matters  ;  or  at  any 
rate,  you  get  them  out  of  me  ;  but  this  being  private,  you 
must  think  no  more  about  it." 

"  Darling  papa,  what  a  flagrant  shame  !  The  man  must 
have  done  it  with  no  other  object  than  to  rob  me  of  every 
wink  of  sleep.  If  I  swallow  the  outrage  and  retire,  will 
you  promise  to  tell  me  every  word  to-morrow  ?  You 
preached  a  most  exquisite  sermon  last  Sunday  about  the 
meanness  and  futility  of  small  concealments." 

"  Be  off,"  cried  the  rector  ;  "  you  are  worse  than  Mr. 
Mordacks,  who  lays  down  the  law  about  frankness  perpet- 
ually, but  never  lets  me  guess  what  his  own  purpose  is." 

u  Oh,  now  I  see  where  the  infection  comes  from  ! 
Papa,  I  am  off,  for  fear  of  catching  it  myself.  Don't  tell 
me,  whatever  you  do.  I  never  can  sleep  upon  dark  mys- 
teries. ' ' 

u  Poor  dear,  you  shall  not  have  your  rest  disturbed," 
Dr.  Upround  said,  sweetly,  as  he  closed  the  door  behind 
her  ;  "  you  are  much  too  good  a  girl  for  other  people's 
plagues  to  visit  you."  Then,  as  he  saddled  his  pleasant 
old  nose  with  the  tranquil  span  of  spectacles,  the  smile  on 
his  lips  and  the  sigh  of  his  breast  arrived  at  a  quiet  little 
compromise.  He  was  proud  of  his  daughter,  her  quickness 
and  power  to  get  the  upper  turn  of  words  with  him  ;  but 
he  grieved  at  her  not  having  any  deep  impressions,  even 
after  his  very  best  sermons.  But  her  mother  always  told 
him  not  to  be  in  any  hurry,  for  even  she  herself  had  felt  no 
very  profound  impressions  until  she  married  a  clergyman  ; 
and  that  argument  always  made  him  smile  (as  invisibly  as 
possible),  because  he  had  not  detected  yet  their  existence 
in  his  better  half.  Such  questions  are  most  delicate,  and  a 
husband  can  only  set  mute  example.  A  father,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  bound  to  use  his  pastoral  crook  upon  his  children 
foremost. 

"  Now  for  this  letter,"  said  Dr.  Upround,  holding  coun- 
sel with  himself  ;  *'  evidently  a  good  clerk  and  perhaps  a 
first-rate  scholar.  One  of  the  very  best  Greek  scholars  of 
the  age  does  all  his  manuscript  in  printing  hand  when  he 


334  MAIIY    A1STERLEY. 

wishes  it  to   be  legible.     And  a  capital  plan  it  is,  without 
meaning  any  pun.     I  can  read  this  like  a  Gazette  itself. 

"  REVEREND  AND  WORSHIPFUL  SIR  :  Your  long  and 
highly  valued  kindness  requires  at  least  a  word  from  me  be- 
fore I  leave  this  country.  I  have  not  ventured  into  your 
presence,  because  it  might  place  you  in  a  very  grave  predic- 
ament. Your  duty  to  king  and  state  might  compel  you 
with  your  own  hand  to  arrest  me  ;  and  against  your  hand 
I  could  not  strive.  The  evidence  brought  before  you  left 
no  choice  but  to  issue  a  warrant  against  me,  though  it 
grieved  your  kind  heart  to  do  that  same.  Sir,  I  am  purely 
innocent  of  the  vile  crime  laid  against  me.  I  used  no  fire- 
arm that  night,  neither  did  any  of  my  men.  And  it  is  for 
their  sake,  as  well  as  my  own,  that  I  now  take  the  liberty 
of  writing  this.  Failing  of  me,  the  authorities  may  bring 
my  comrades  to  trial,  and  convict  them.  If  that  were  so, 
it  would  become  my  duty  as  a  man  to  surrender  myself, 
and  meet  my  death  in  the  hope  of  saving  them.  But  if 
the  case  is  sifted  properly,  they  must  be  acquitted  ;  for  no 
fire-arm  of  any  kind  was  in  my  boat,  except  one  pair  of  pis- 
tols in  a  locker  under  the  after-thwart,  and  they  happened 
to  be  unloaded.  I  pray  you  to  verify  this,  kind  sir.  My 
firm  belief  is  that  the  revenue-officer  was  shot  by  one  of  his 
own  men  ;  and  his  widow  has  the  same  opinion.  1  hear 
that  the  wound  was  in  the  back  of  the  head.  If  we  had 
carried  fire-arms,  not  one  of  us  could  have  shot  him  so. 

"  It  may  have  been  an  accident  ;  I  cannot  say.  Even 
so,  the  man  whose  mishap  it  was  is  not  likely  to  acknowl- 
edge it.  And  I  know  that  in  a  court  of  law  truth  must  be 
paid  for  dearly.  I  venture  to  commit  to  your  good  hands 
a  draft  upon  a  well-known  Holland  firm,  which  amounts  to 
£78  British,  for  the  defence  of  the  men  who  are  in  cus- 
tody. I  know  that  you,  as  a  magistrate,  cannot  come  for- 
ward as  their  defender  ;  but  I  beg  you  as  a  friend  of  jus- 
tice to  place  the  money  for  their  benefit.  Also  especially 
to  direct  attention  to  the  crew  of  the  revenue-boat  and 
their  guns. 

"  And  now  I  fear  greatly  to  encroach  upon  your  kind- 
ness and  very  long-suffering  good-will  toward  me.  But  I 


FACT   Oil   FACTOR.  oo5 

have  brought  into  sad  trouble  and  distress  with  her  family 
— who  are  most  obstinate  people — and  with  the  opinion  of 
the  public,  I  suppose,  a  young  lady  worth  more  than  all 
the  goods  I  ever  ran,  or  ever  could  run,  if  I  went  on 
for  fifty  years.  By  name  she  is  Mistress  Mary  Anerley, 
and  by  birth  the  daughter  of  Captain  Anerley,  of  Aner- 
ley Farm,  outside  our  parish.  If  your  reverence  could 
only  manage  to  ride  round  that  way  upon  coming  home 
from  sessions,  once  or  twice  in  the  fine  weather,  and  to  say 
a  kind  word  or  two  to  my  Mary,  and  a  good  word,  if  any 
can  be  said  of  me,  to  her  parents,  who  are  stiff  but  worthy 
people,  it  would  be  a  truly  Christian  act,  and  such  as  you 
delight  in,  on  this  side  of  the  Dane's  Dike. 

u  Reverend  sir,  I  must  now  say  farewell.  From  you  I 
have  learned  almost  everything  I  know,  within  the  pale  of 
statutes,  which  repeal  one  another  continually.  I  have 
wandered  sadly  outside  that  pale  and  now  I  pay  the  penalty. 
If  I  had  only  paid  heed  to  your  advice,  and  started  in  busi- 
ness with  the  capital  acquired  by  free-trade,  and  got  it 
properly  protected,  I  might  have  been  able  to  support  my 
parents,  and  even  be  church-warden  of  Flamborough.  You 
always  told  me  that  my  unlawful  enterprise  must  close  in 
sadness,  and  your  words  have  proved  too  true.  But  I 
never  expected  anything  like  this  ;  and  I  do  not  understand 
it  yet.  A  penetrating  mind  like  yours,  with  all  the  advan- 
tages of  authority,  even  that  is  likely  to  be  baffled  in  such  a 
difficult  case  as  this. 

' i  Reverend  sir,  my  case  is  hard  ;  for  I  always  have  labor- 
ed to  establish  peaceful  trade  ;  and  I  must  have  succeeded 
again,  if  honor  had  guided  all  my  followers.  We  always 
relied  upon  the  Coast-guard  to  be  too  late  for  any  mischief  ; 
and  so  they  would  have  been  this  time,  if  their  acts  had 
been  straightforward.  In  sorrow  and  lowness  of  fortune, 
I  remain,  with  humble  respect  and  gratitude,  your  worship's 
poor  pupil  and  banished  parishioner, 

"  ROBIN  LYTH,  of  Flamborough." 

"  Come,  now,  Robin,"  Dr.  Upround  said,  as  soon  as 
he  had  well  considered  this  epistle  ;  "  I  have  put  up  with 
many  a  check-mate  at  your  hands,  but  not  without  the  fair 


33G  MARY   ANERLEY. 

deliglit  of  a  counter-stroke  at  tlie  enemy.  Here  you  afford 
me  none  of  that.  You  are  my  master  in  every  way,  and 
quietly  you  make  me  make  your  moves,  quite  as  if  I  were 
the  black  in  a  problem.  You  leave  me  to  conduct  your  fel- 
low-smugglers' case,  to  look  after  your  sweetheart,  and  to 
make  myself  generally  useful.  By  the  way,  that  touch 
about  my  pleading  his  cause  in  my  riding-boots,  and  with 
a  sessional  air  about  me,  is  worthy  of  the  great  Verdoni. 
Neither  is  that  a  bad  hit  about  my  Christianity  stopping  at 
the  Dane's  Dike.  Certes  !  I  shall  have  to  call  on  that 
young  lady  ;  though  from  what  I  have  heard  of  the  sturdy 
farmer,  I  may  both  ride  and  reason  long,  even  after 
my  greatest  exploits  at  the  sessions,  without  converting 
him  to  free-trade  ;  and  trebly  so,  after  that  deplorable 
affair.  I  wonder  whether  we  shall  ever  get  to  the  bottom 
of  that  mystery.  How  often  have  I  warned  the  boy  that 
mischief  was  quite  sure  to  come,  though  I  never  even 
dreamed  that  it  would  be  so  bad  as  this." 

Since  Dr.  Upround  first  came  to  Flamborough,  nothing 
(riot  even  the  infliction  of  his  nickname)  had  grieved  him  so 
deeply  as  the  sad  death  of  Carroway.  From  the  first  he 
felt  certain  that  his  own  people  were  guiltless  of  any  share 
in  it.  But  his  heart  misgave  him  as  to  distant  smugglers, 
men  who  came  from  afar  freebooting,  bringing  over  ocean 
woes  to  men  of  settlement,  good  tithe-payers.  For  such 
men  (plainly  of  foreign  breed,  and  very  plain  speci- 
mens of  it)  had  not  at  all  succeeded  in  eluding  observation, 
in  a  neighborhood  where  they  could  have  no  honest  calling. 
Flamborough  had  called  to  witness  Filey,  and  Filey  had 
attested  Bridlington,  that  a  stranger  on  horseback  had  ap- 
peared among  them,  with  a  purpose  obscurely  evil.  They 
were  right  enough  as  to  the  fact,  although  the  purpose  was 
not  evil,  as  Little  Denmark  even  now  began  to  own. 

"  Here  I  am  again  !"  cried  Mr.  Mordacks,  laying  vehe- 
ment hold  of  the  rector's  hand,  upon  the  following  morning  ; 
"  just  arrived  from  York,  dear  sir,  after  riding  half  the 
night,  and  going  anywhere  you  please  ;  except,  perhaps, 
where  you  would  like  to  send  me,  if  charity  and  Christian 
courtesy  allowed.  My  dear  sir,  have  you  heard  the  news  ? 
1  perceive  by  your  countenance  that  you  have  not.  Ah, 


FACT    OK   FACTOU.  337 

you  arc  generally  benighted  in  these  parts.  Your  caves 
have  got  something  to  do  with  it.  The  mind  gets  accus- 
tomed to  them." 

"  I  venture  to  think,  Mr.  Mordacks,  on  the  whole,"  said 
the  rector,  who  studied  this  man  gently,  u  that  sometimes 
you  are  rapid  in  your  conclusions.  Possibly  of  the  two 
extremes  it  is  the  more  desirable  ;  especially  in  these  parts, 
because  of  its  great  rarity.  Still,  the  mere  fact  of  some 
caves  existing  in  or  out  of  my  parish,  which  ever  it  may  be, 
scarcely  seems  to  prove  that  all  the  people  of  Flamborough 
live  in  them.  And  even  if  we  did,  it  was  the  manner  of 
the  ancient  seers,  both  in  the  classics,  and  in  Holy  Writ — " 

u  Sir,  I  know  all  about  Elijah  and  Obadiah,  and  the  rest 
of  them.  Profane  literature  we  leave  now  for  clerks  in 
holy  orders  ;  we  positively  have  no  time  for  it.  Every- 
thing begins  to  move  with  accelerated  pace.  This  is  a  new 
century,  and  it  means  to  make  its  mark.  It  begins  very 
badly,  but  it  will  go  on  all  the  better.  And  I  hope  to  have 
the  pleasure,  at  a  very  early  day,  of  showing  you  one  of  its 
leading  men,  a  man  of  large  intellect,  commanding  char- 
acter, the  most  magnificent  principles,  and,  in  short,  lots  of 
money.  You  must  be  quite  familiar  with  the  name  of  Sir 
Duncan  Yordas." 

u  I  fancy  that  I  have  heard  or  seen  it  somewhere.  Oh, 
something  to  do  with  the  Hindoos  or  the  Africans.  I  never 
pay  much  attention  to  such  things." 

"  Neither  do  I,  Dr.  Upround.  Still  somebody  must, 
and  a  lot  of  money  comes  of  it.  Their  idols  have  diamond 
eyes,  which  purity  of  worship  compels  us  to  confiscate. 
And  there  are  many  other  ways  of  getting  on  among  them, 
while  wafting  and  expanding  them  into  a  higher  sphere  of 
thought.  The  mere  fact  of  Sir  Duncan  having  feathered 
his  nest — pardon  so  vulgar  an  expression,  doctor — proves 
that  while  giving,  we  may  also  receive  ;  for  which  we  have 
the  highest  warranty." 

i '  The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,  Mr.  Mordacks.  At 
the  same  time,  we  should  remember  also — 

u  What  St.   Paul  says  per  contra.       Quite  so.     That  is 
always  my  first  consideration  when  I   work  for  my  em- 
ployers.    Ah,  Dr.  Upround,  few  men  give  such  pure  ser- 
22 


338  MAKY    ANEKLEY. 

vice  as  your  humble  servant.  I  have  twice  had  the  honor 
of  handing  you  my  card.  If  ever  you  fall  into  any  diffi- 
culty, where  zeal,  fidelity,  and  high  principle,  combined 
with  very  low  charges — ' ' 

4  i  Mr.  Mordacks,  my  opinion  of  you  is  too  high,  for  even 
yourself  to  add  to  it.  But  what  has  this  Sir  Duncan  Yor- 
ick—  " 

"  Yordas,  my  dear  sir — Sir  Duncan  Yordas — the  oldest 
family  in  Yorkshire.  Men  of  great  power,  both  for  good 
and  evil — mainly,  perhaps,  the  latter.  It  has  struck  me 
sometimes  that  the  county  takes  its  name — but  etymology  is 
not  my  forte.  What  has  he  to  do  with  us,  you  ask  ?  Sir, 
I  will  answer  you  most  frankly.  '  Coram  populo  '  is  my 
business  motto.  Excuse  me,  I  think  I  hear  that  door  creak. 
No,  a  mere  fancy — we  are  quite  '  in  camera/  Very  well, 
reverend  sir,  prepare  your  mind  for  a  highly  astounding 
disclosure.'7 

"  I  have  lived  too  long  to  be  astounded,  my  good  sir. 
But  allow  me  to  put  on  my  spectacles.  Now  I  am  prepared 
for  almost  anything." 

"  Dr.  Upround,  my  duty  compels  me  to  enter  largely 
into  minds.  Your  mind  is  of  a  lofty  order — calm,  philo- 
sophic, benevolent.  You  have  proved  this  by  your  kind  re- 
ception of  me,  a  stranger,  almost  an  intruder.  You  have 
judged  from  my  manners  and  appearance,  which  are  shaped 
considerably  by  the  inner  man,  that  my  object  was  good, 
large,  noble.  And  yet  you  have  not  been  quite  able  to  re- 
frain, at  weak  moments,  perhaps,  but  still  a  dozen  times  a 
day,  from  exclaiming  in  the  commune  of  your  heart,  '  What 
the  devil  does  this  man  want  in  my  parish  ? ' 

"  My  good  sir,  I  never  use  bad  language  ;  and  if  I  did 
my  duty,  I  should  now  inflict — " 

4 '  Five  shillings  for  you  poor-box.  There  it  is.  And  it 
serves  me  quite  right  for  being  too  explicit,  and  forgetting 
my  reverence  to  the  cloth.  However,  I  have  coarsely  ex- 
pressed your  thoughts.  Also  you  have  frequently  said  to 
yourself,  '  This  man  prates  of  openness,  but  I  find  him 
closer  than  an  oyster. '  Am  I  right  ?  Yes,  I  see  that  I 
am,  by  your  bow.  Very  well  ;  you  may  suppose  what  pain 
it  gave  me  to  have  the  privilege  of  intercourse  with  a  perfect 


FACT   Oil   FACTOR.  339 

gentleman,  and  an  eloquent  divine,  and  yet  feel  myself  in 
an  ambiguous  position.  In  a  few  words  I  will  clear  myself,  be- 
ing now  at  liberty  to  indulge  that  pleasure.  I  have  been  here, 
as  agent  for  Sir  Duncan  Yordas,  to  follow  up  the  long-lost 
clew  to  his  son  and  only  child,  who  for  very  many  years  was 
believed  to  be  out  of  all  human  pursuit.  My  sanguine  and 
penetrating  mind  scorned  rumors,  and  went  in  for  certainty. 
I  have  found  Sir  Duncan's  son,  and  am  able  to  identify 
him,  beyond  all  doubt,  as  a  certain  young  man  well  known 
to  you,  and  perhaps  too  widely  known,  by  the  name  of 
Robin  Lyth." 

In  spite  of  tjie  length  of  his  experience  of  the  world,  in 
a  place  of  so  many  adventures,  the  rector  of  Flamborough 
was  astonished,  and  perhaps  a  little  vexed  as  well.  If 
anything  was  to  be  found  out,  in  such  a  headlong  way, 
about  one  of  his  parishioners,  and  notably  such  a  pet  pupil 
and  favorite,  the  proper  thing  would  have  been  that  he 
himself  should  do  it.  Failing  that,  he  should  at  least  have 
been  consulted,  enlisted,  or  at  any  rate  apprised  of  what 
was  toward.  But  instead  of  that,  here  he  had  been  hood- 
winked (by  this  marvel  of  incarnate  candor  employed  in 
the  dark  about  several  little  things),  and  then  suddenly  en- 
lightened when  the  job  was  done.  Gentle  and  void  of  self- 
importance  as  he  was,  it  misliked  him  to  be  treated  so. 

"  This  is  a  wonderful  piece  of  news,"  he  said,  as  he 
fixed  a  calm  gaze  upon  the  keen  hard  eyes  of  Mordacks. 
"  You  understand  your  business,  sir,  and  would  not  make 
such  a  statement  unless  you  could  verify  it.  But  I  hope 
that  you  may  not  find  cause  to  regret  that  you  have  treated 
me  with  so  little  confidence." 

"  I  am  not  open  to  that  reproach.  Dr.  Upround,  con- 
sider my  instructions.  I  was  strictly  forbidden  to  disclose 
my  object  until  certainty  should  be  obtained.  That  being 
done,  I  have  hastened  to  apprise  you  first  of  a  result  which 
is  partly  due  to  your  own  good  offices.  Shake  hands,  my 
dear  sir,  and  acquit  me  of  rudeness — the  last  thing  of  which 
I  am  capable." 

The  rector  was  mollified,  and  gave  his  hand  to  the  gallant 
general  factor.  "  Allow  me  to  add  my  congratulations 
upon  your  wonderful  success,"  he  said  ;  "  but  would  that 


340  MARY   AKERLEY. 

I  had  known  it  some  few  hours  sooner  !  It  might  have 
saved  you  a  vast  amount  of  trouble.  I  might  have  kept 
Robin  well  within  your  reach.  I  fear  that  he  is  now  be- 
yond it."' 

"  I  am  grieved  to  hear  you  say  so.  But  according  to 
my  last  instructions,  although  he  is  in  strict  concealment, 
I  can  lay  hands  upon  him  when  the  time  is  ripe. ' ' 

"  I  fear  not.  He  sailed  last  night  for  the  Continent, 
which  is  a  vague  destination,  especially  in  such  times  as 
these.  But  perhaps  that  was  part  of  your  skilful  contri- 
vance." 

"  Not  so.  And  for  the  time  it  throws  me  out.  I  have 
kept  most  careful  watch  on  him.  But  the  difficulty  was 
that  he  might  confound  my  vigilance  with  that  of  his  ene- 
mies. Take  me  for  a  constable,  I  mean.  And  perhaps  he 
has  done  so,  after  all.  Things  have  gone  luckily  for  me  in 
the  main,  but  that  murder  came  in  most  unseasonably.  It 
was  the  very  thing  that  should  have  been  avoided.  Sir 
Duncan  will  need  all  his  influence  there.  Suppose  for  a 
moment  that  young  Robin  did  not  do  it — " 

"  Mr.  Mordacks,  you  frighten  me.  What  else  could 
you  suppose  ?" 

"  Certainly — yes.  A  parishioner  of  yours,  when  not 
engaged  unlawfully  upon  the  high  seas.  We  heartily  hope 
that  he  did  not  do  it,  and  we  give  him  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt  ;  in  which  I  shared  largely,  until  it  became  so  mani- 
fest that  he  was  a  Yordas.  A  Yordas  has  made  a  point  of 
slaying  his  man — and  sometimes  from  three  to  a  dozen  men 
— until  within  the  last  two  generations.  In  the  third  gen- 
eration the  law  revives,  as  is  hinted,  I  think,  in  the  Deca- 
logue. In  my  professional  course  a  large  stock  of  heredi- 
tary trail — so  to  speak — comes  before  me.  Some  families 
always  drink,  some  always  steal,  some  never  tell  lies  because 
they  never  know  a  falsehood,  some  would  sell  their  souls 
for  a  sixpence,  and  these  are  the  most  respectable  of  any — " 

"  My  dear  sir,  my  dear  sir,  I  beg  your  pardon  for  inter- 
rupting you,  but  in  my  house  the  rule  is  to  speak  well  of 
people,  or  else  to  say  nothing  about  them." 

"  Then  you  must  resign  your  commission,  doctor,  for 
how  can  you  take  depositions  ?  But  as  I  was  saying,  I 


FACT  OR   FACTOR.  341 

should  have  some  hope  of  the  innocence  of  young  Robin  if 
it  should  turn  out  that  his  father,  Sir  Duncan,  has  destroyed 
a  good  many  of  the  native  race  in  India.  It  may  reason- 
ably be  hoped  that  he  has  done  so,  which  would  tend  very 
strongly  to  exonerate  his  son.  But  the  evidence  laid  before 
your  worship  and  before  the  coroner  was  black — black — 
black." 

"  My  position  forbids  me  to  express  opinions.  The  evi- 
dence compelled  me  to  issue  the  warrant.  But  knowing 
your  position,  I  may  show  you  this,  in  every  word  of  which 
I  have  perfect  faith." 

With  these  words  Dr.  Upround  produced  the  letter  which 
he  had  received  last  night,  and  the  general  factor  took  in 
all  the  gist  of  it  in  less  than  half  a  minute. 

"  Very  good  !  very  good  !"  he  said,  with  a  smile  of  ex- 
perienced benevolence.  "  We  believe  some  of  it.  Our 
duty  is  to  do  so.  There  are  two  points  of  importance  in  it. 
One  as  to  the  girl  he  is  in  love  with,  and  the  other  his  kind 
liberality  to  the  fellows  who  will  have  to  bear  the  brunt  of 
it." 

"  You  speak  sarcastically,  and  I  hope  unfairly.  To  my 
mind,  the  most  important  facts  are  these — that  poor  Carro- 
way  was  shot  from  behind,  and  that  the  smugglers  had  no 
fire-arms,  except  two  pistols,  both  unloaded." 

*  '  Who  is  to  prove  that,  Dr.  Upround  ?  Their  mouths 
are  closed  ;  and  if  they  were  open,  would  anybody  believe 
them  ?  We  knew  long  ago  that,  the  vigilant  and  deservedly 
lamented  officer  took  the  death-blow  from  behind  ;  but  of 
that  how  simple  is  the  explanation  !  The  most  intelligent 
of  his  crew,  and  apparently  his  best  subordinate,  whose 
rame  is  John  Cadman,  deposes  that  his  lamented  chief 
turned  round  for  one  moment  to  give  an  order,  and  during 
that  moment  received  the  shot.  His  evidence  is  the  more 
weighty,  because  he  does  not  go  too  far  with  it.  He  does 
not  pretend  to  say  who  fired,  lie  knows  only  that  one  of 
the  smugglers  did.  His  evidence  will  hang  those  six  poor 
fellows,  from  the  laudable  desire  of  the  law  to  include  the 
right  one.  But  I  trust  that  the  right  one  will  be  far 
away. ' ' 

"  I  trust  not.     If  even  one  of  them  is  condemned,  even 


342  MAEY   ANERLEY. 

to  transportation,  Robin  Lyth  will  surrender  immediately. 
You  doubt  it.  You  smile  at  the  idea.  Your  opinion  of 
human  nature  is  low.  Mine  is  not  enthusiastic.  But  I 
judge  others  by  myself.77 

"  So  do  I,"  Mr.  Mordacks  answered,  with  a  smile  of 
curious  humor.  And  the  rector  could  not  help  smiling  too, 
at  this  instance  of  genuine  candor.  ' i  However,  not  to  go 
too  deeply  into  that,"  his  visitor  continued,  "  there  really 
is  one  point  in  Robin's  letter  which  demands  inquiry.  I 
mean  about  the  guns  of  the  Preventive  men.  Cadman  may 
be  a  rogue.  Most  probably  he  is.  None  of  the  others 
confirm,  although  they  do  not  contradict  him.  Do  you 
know  anything  about  him  ?" 

"  Only  villainy — in  another  way.  He  led  away  a  nice 
girl  of  this  parish,  an  industrious  mussel-gatherer.  And  he 
then  had  a  wife  and  large  family  of  his  own,  of  which  the 
poor  thing  knew  nothing.  Her  father  nearly  killed  him  ; 
and  I  was  compelled  (very  much  against  my  will)  to  inflict 
a  penalty.  Cadrnan  is  very  shy  of  Flamborough  now.  By 
the  way,  have  you  called  upon  poor  Widow  Carroway  ?" 

' '  I  thank  you  for  the  hint.  She  is  the  very  person.  It 
will  be  a  sad  intrusion,  and  I  have  put  it  off  as  long  as  pos- 
sible. After  what  Robin  says,  it  is  most  important.  I 
hope  that  Sir  Duncan  will  be  here  very  shortly.  He  is 
coming  from  Yarmouth  in  his  own  yacht.  Matters  are 
crowding  upon  me  very  fast.  I  will  see  Mrs.  Carroway  as 
soon  as  it  is  decent.  Good-morning,  and  best  thanks  to 
your  worship. ' ' 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

THE    DEMON    OF    THE    AXE. 

THE  air  was  sad  and  heavy  thus,  with  discord,  doubt,  and 
death  itself  gathering  and  descending,  like  the  clouds  of 
long  night,  upon  Flamborough.  But  far  away  among  the 
mountains  and  the  dreary  moorland,  the  "  intake"  of  the 
coming  winter  was  a  great  deal  worse  to  see.  For  here  no 
blink  of  the  sea  came  up,  no  sunlight  under  the  sill  of 


TTIE   DEMON   OF  THE    AXE.  343 

clouds  (as  happens  \vlicrc  wide  waters  are),  but  rather  a 
dark  rim  of  brooding  on  the  rough  horizon  seemed  to 
thicken  itself  against  the  light  under  the  sullen  march  of 
vapors — the  muffled  funeral  of  the  year.  Dry  trees  and 
naked  crags  stood  forth,  and  the  dirge  of  the  wind  went  to 
and  fro,  and  there  was  no  comfort  out-of-doors. 

Soon  the  first  snow  of  the  winter  came,  the  first  abiding 
earnest  snow,  for  several  skits  had  come  before,  and  rib- 
bed with  white  the  mountain  breasts.  But  nobody  took 
much  heed  of  that,  except  to  lean  over  the  plough,  while  it 
might  be  sped,  or  to  want  more  breakfast.  Well  resigned 
was  everybody  to  the  stoppage  of  work  by  winter.  It  was 
only  what  must  be  every  year,  and  a  gracious  provision  of 
Providence.  If  a  man  earned  very  little  money,  that  was 
against  him  in  one  way,  but  encouraged  him  in  another. 
It  brought  home  to  his  mind  the  surety  that  others  would 
be  kind  to  him  ;  not  with  any  sense  of  gift,  but  a  large 
good-will  of  sharing. 

But  the  first  snow  that  visits  the  day,  and  does  not  melt 
in  its  own  cold  tears,  is  a  sterner  sign  for  every  one.  The 
hardened  wrinkle,  and  the  herring-bone  of  white  that  runs 
among  the  brown  fern  fronds,  the  crisp  defiant  dazzle  on 
the  walks,  and  the  crust  that  glitters  on  the  patient  branch, 
and  the  crest  curling  under  the  heel  of  a  gate,  and  the 
ridge  piled  up  against  the  tool-house  door — these,  and  the 
shivering  wind  that  spreads  them,  tell  of  a  bitter  time  in 
store. 

The  ladies  of  Scargate  Hall  looked  out  upon  such  a  De- 
cember afternoon.  The  massive  walls  of  their  house  defied 
all  sudden  change  of  temperature,  and  nothing  less  than  a 
week  of  rigor  pierced  the  comfort  of  their  rooms.  The 
polished  oak  beams  overhead  glanced  back  the  merry  fire- 
glow,  the  painted  walls  shone  with  rosy  tints,  and  warm 
lights  flitting  along  them,  and  the  thick-piled  carpet  yielded 
back  a  velvety  sense  of  luxury.  It  was  nice  to  see  how 
bleak  the  crags  were,  and  the  sad  trees  laboring  beneath  the 
wind  and  snow. 

4 *  If  it  were  not  for  thinking  of  the  poor  cold  people,  for 
whom  one  feels  so  deeply, "  said  the  gentle  Mrs.  Carnaby, 
with  a  sweet  soft  sigh,  "one  would  rather  enjoy  this  dreary 


344  MARY   A^ERLEY. 

prospect.  I  hope  there  will  be  a  deep  snow  to-night. 
There  is  every  sign  of  it  upon  the  scaurs.  And  then,  Phil- 
ippa, only  think — no  post,  no  plague  of  news,  no  prospect 
of  even  that  odious  Jellicorse  !  Once  more  we  shall  have 
our  meals  in  quiet/' 

Mrs.  Carnaby  loved  a  good  dinner  right  well,  a  dinner 
unplagued  by  hospitable  cares,  when  a  woodcock  was  her 
own  to  dwell  on,  and  pretty  little  teeth  might  pick  a  pretty 
little  bone  at  ease. 

"  Eliza,  you  are  always  such  a  creature  of  the  moment," 
Mistress  Yordas  answered,  indulgently;  "you  do  love  the 
good  things  of  the  world  too  much.  How  would  you  like 
to  be  out  there,  in  a  naked  little  cottage  where  the  wind 
howls  through,  and  the  ewer  is  frozen  every  morning  ? 
And,  where  if  you  ever  get  anything  to  eat — ' ' 

"  Philippa,  I  implore  you  not  to  be  so  dreadful.  One 
never  can  utter  the  most  commonplace  reflection  ;  and  you 
know  that  I  said  I  was  sorry  for  the  people." 

"  My  object  is  good,  as  you  ought  to  know.  My  object 
is  to  habituate  you  mind — " 

"  Philippa,  I  beg  you  once  more  to  confine  your  exer- 
tions in  that  way  to  your  own  more  lofty  mind.  Again  I 
refuse  to  have  my  mind,  or  whatever  it  is  that  does  duty 
for  it,  habituated  to  anything.  A  gracious  Providence 
knows  that  I  should  die  outright,  after  all  my  blameless 
life,  if  reduced  to  those  horrible  straits  you  always  picture. 
And  I  have  too  much  faith  in  a  gracious  Providence  to  con- 
ceive for  one  moment  that  it  would  treat  me  so.  I  decline 
the  subject.  "Why  should  we  make  such  troubles  ?  There 
is  clear  soup  for  dinner,  and  some  lovely  sweet-breads. 
Cook  has  got  a  new  receipt  for  bread  sauce,  and  Jordas 
says  that  he  never  did  shoot  such  a  woodcock. ' ' 

"  Eliza,  I  trust  that  you  may  enjoy  them  all ;  your  appe- 
tite is  delicate,  and  you  require  nourishment.  Why,  what 
do  I  see  over  yonder,  in  the  snow  ?  A  slim  figure  moving 
at  a  very  great  pace,  and  avoiding  the  open  places  !  Are 
my  eyes  growing  old,  or  is  it  Lancelot  ?" 

;<  Pet  out  in  such  weather,  Philippa  !  Such  a  thing  is 
simply  impossible.  Or  at  any  rate,  I  should  hope  so.  You 
know  that  Jordas  was  obliged  to  put  a  set  of  curtains  from 


THE   DEMON   OF  T11E   AXK.  345 

end  to  end  even  of  the  bowling-alley,  which  is  so  beautifully 
sheltered  ;  and  even  then  poor  Pet  was  sneezing.  And  you 
should  have  heard  what  he  said  to  me,  when  I  was  afraid 
of  the  sheets  taking  fire  from  his  warming-pan  one  night. 
Pet  is  unaccountable  sometimes,  I  know.  But  the  very 
last  thing  imaginable  of  him  is  that  he  should  put  his  pretty 
feet  into  the  snow. ' ' 

"  You  know  him  best,  Eliza  ;  and  it  is  very  puzzling  to 
distinguish  things  in  snow.  But  if  it  was  not  Pet,  why,  it 
must  have  been  a  squirrel. ' ' 

"  The  squirrels  are  gone  to  sleep  for  the  winter,  Phil- 
ippa.  I  dare  say  it  was  only  Jordas.  Don't  you  think  that 
it  must  have  been  Jordas  ?" 

"  I  am  quite  certain  that  it  was  not  Jordas.  But  I  will 
not  pretend  to  say  that  it  was  not  a  squirrel,  lie  may 
forego  his  habitudes  more  easily  than  Lancelot. J ' 

"  How  horribly  dry  you  are  sometimes,  Philippa  !  There 
seems  to  be  no  softness  in  your  nature.  You  are  fit  to  do 
battle  with  fifty  lawyers  ;  and  I  pity  Mr.  Jellicorse,  with  his 
best  clothes  on." 

' '  You  could  commit  no  greater  error.  "We  pay  the  price 
of  his  black  silk  stockings  three  times  over  every  time  we 
see  him.  The  true  objects  of  pity  are — you,  I,  and  the 
estates. ' ' 

"  Well,  let  us  drop  it  for  a  while.  If  you  begin  upon 
that  nauseous  subject,  not  a  particle  of  food  will  pass  my 
lips  ;  and  I  did  look  forward  to  a  little  nourishment." 

"  Dinner,  my  ladies  !"  cried  the  well-appointed  Well- 
drum,  throwing  open  the  door  as  only  such  a  man  can  do, 
while  cleverly  accomplishing  the  necessary  bow,  which  he 
clinched  on  such  occasions  with  a  fine  smack  of  his  lips. 

u  Go  and  tell  Mr.  Lancelot,  if  you  please,  that  we  are 
waiting  for  him. "  A  great  point  was  made,  but  not  always 
effected,  of  having  Master  Pet,  in  very  gorgeous  attire,  to 
lead  his  aunt  into  the  dining-room.  It  was  fondly  believed 
that  this  impressed  him  with  the  elegance  and  nice  humani- 
ties required  by  his  lofty  position  and  high  walk  in  life. 
Pet  hated  this  performance,  and  generally  spoiled  it  by  mak- 
ing a  face  over  his  shoulder  at  old  Welldrum,  while  he 
strode  along  in  real  or  mock  awe  of  Aunt  Philippa. 


34G  MARY   ANERLEY. 

4 1  If  you  please,  my  ladies, ' '  said  the  butler  now,  choos- 
ing Mrs.  Carnaby  for  his  eyes  to  rest  on,  "  Mr.  Lancelot 
beg  to  be  excoosed  of  dinner.  His  head  is  that  bad  that  he 
have  gone  for  open  air." 

11  Snow-headache  is  much  in  our  family  ;  Eliza,  you  re- 
member how  our  dear  father  used  to  feel  it. ' '  With  these 
words  Mistress  Yordas  led  her  sister  to  the  dining-room, 
and  they  took  good  care  to  say  nothing  more  about  it  be- 
fore the  officious  Welldrum. 

Pet  meanwhile  was  beginning  to  repent  of  his  cold  and 
lonely  venture.  For  a  mile  or  two  the  warmth  of  his  mind 
and  the  glow  of  exercise  sustained  him  ;  and  he  kept  on 
admiring  his  own  courage,  till  his  feet  began  to  tingle. 
"  Insie  will  be  bound  to  kiss  me  now  ;  and  she  never  will  be 
able  to  laugh  at  me  again, "  he  said  to  himself  some  fifty 
times.  u  I  am  like  the  great  poet  who  describes  the  snow  ; 
and  I  have  got  some  cherry-brandy."  He  trudged  on 
very  bravely,  but  his  poor  dear  toes  at  every  step  grew 
colder.  Out  upon  the  moor,  where  he  was  now,  no  shelter 
of  any  kind  encouraged  him  ;  no  mantlet  of  bank,  or  ridge, 
or  brush-wood,  set  up  a  furry  shiver  betwixt  him  and  the 
tatterdemalion  wind.  Not  even  a  naked  rock  stood  up  to 
comfort  a  man  by  looking  colder  than  himself. 

But  in  truth  there  was  no  severe  cold  yet  ;  no  depth  of 
snow,  no  intensity  of  frost,  no  splintery  needles  of  spark- 
ling drift  ;  but  only  the  beginning  of  the  wintry  time, 
such  as  makes  a  strong  man  pick  his  feet  up,  and  a  healthy 
boy  start  an  imaginary  slide.  The  wind,  however,  was 
shrewd  and  searching,  and  Lancelot  was  accustomed  to  a 
warming-pan.  Inside  his  waistcoat  he  wore  a  hare-skin, 
and  his  heart  began  to  give  rapid  thumps  against  it.  He 
knew  that  he  was  going  into  bodily  peril  worse  than  any 
frost  or  snow. 

For  a  long  month  he  had  not  even  seen  his  Insie,  and  his 
hot  young  heart  had  never  before  been  treated  so  con- 
temptuously. He  had  been  allowed  to  show  himself  in  the 
gill  at  his  regular  interval,  a  fortnight  ago.  But  no  one  had 
ventured  forth  to  meet  him,  or  even  wave  signal  of  wel- 
come or  farewell.  But  that  he  could  endure,  because  he 
had  been  warned  not  to  hope  for  much  that  Friday  ;  now, 


THE    DEMON   OF   THE   AXE.  347 

however,  it  was  not  his  meaning  to  put  up  with  any  more 
such  nonsense.  That  he,  who  had  been  told  by  the  servants 
continually  that  all  the  land  for  miles  and  miles  around  was 
his,  should  be  shut  out  like  a  beggar,  and  compelled  to  play 
bo-peep,  by  people  who  lived  in  a  hole  in  the  ground,  was  a 
little  moie  than  in  the  whole  entire  course  of  his  life  he 
could  ever  have  imagined.  Ilis  mind  was  now  made  up  to 
let  them  know  who  he  was  and  what  he  was  ;  and  unless 
they  were  very  quick  in  coming  to  their  senses,  Jordas 
should  have  orders  to  turn  them  out,  and  take  Insie  alto- 
gether away  from  them. 

But,  in  spite  of  all  brave  thoughts  and  words,  Master  Pet 
began  to  spy  about  very  warily  ere  ever  he  descended  from  the 
moor  into  the  gill.  He  seemed  to  have  it  borne  in  upon  his 
mind  that  territorial  rights — however  large  and  goodly — 
may  lead  only  to  a  taste  of  earth,  when  earth  alone  is  wit- 
ness to  the  treatment  of  her  claimant.  Therefore  it  be- 
hooved him  to  look  sharp  ;  and  possessing  the  family  gift 
of  keen  sight,  he  began  to  spy  about,  almost  as  shrewdly  as 
if  he  had  been  educated  in  free-trade.  But  first  he  had  wit 
enough  to  step  below  the  break,  and  get  behind  a  gorse 
bush,  lest  haply  he  should  illustrate  only  the  passive  voice 
of  seeing. 

In  the  deep  cut  of  the  glen  there  was  very  little  snow, 
only  a  few  veins  and  patches  here  and  there,  threading  and 
seaming  the  steep,  as  if  a  white-footed  hare  had  been 
coursing  about.  Little  stubby 'brier  shoots,  and  clumps  of 
russet  bracken,  and  dead  heather,  ruffling  like  a  brown 
dog's  back,  broke  the  dull  surface  of  withered  herbage, 
thistle  stumps,  teazels,  rugged  banks,  and  naked  brush. 
Down  in  the  bottom  the  noisy  brook  was  scurrying  over  its 
pebbles  brightly,  or  plunging  into  gloom  of  its  own  produc- 
tion ;  and  away  at  the  bend  of  the  valley  was  seen  the  cot 
of  poor  Lancelot's  longings. 

The  situation  was  worth  a  sigh,  and  came  half  way  to 
share  one  ;  Pet  sighed  heavily,  and  deeply  felt  how  wrong 
it  was  of  any  one  to  treat  him  so.  What  could  be  easier 
for  him  than  to  go — as  Insie  had  said  to  him  at  least  a 
score  of  times — and  mind  his  own  business,  and  shake  off 
the  dust,  or  the  mud,  of  his  feet  at  such  strangers  ?  But, 


348  JVIAltY   A^EKLEY. 

alas  !  lie  had  tried  it,  and  could  shake  nothing,  except  his 
sad  and  sapient  head.  How  deplorably  was  he  altered 
from  the  Pet  that  used  to  be  !  "Where  were  now  his  lofty 
joys,  the  pleasure  he  found  in  wholesome  mischief  and 
wholesale  destruction,  the  high  delight  of  frightening  all  the 
world  about  his  safety  ? 

"  There  are  people  here,  I  do  believe/'  he  said  to  him- 
self, most  touchingly,  ' '  who  would  be  quite  happy  to  chop 
oif  my  head  !" 

As  if  to  give  edge  to  so  murderous  a  thought,  and  wings 
to  the  feet  of  the  thinker,  a  man  both  tall  and  broad  came 
striding  down  the  cottage  garden.  He  was  swinging  a 
heavy  axe  as  if  it  were  a  mere  dress  cane,  and  now  and  then 
dealing  clean  slash  of  a  branch,  with  an  air  which  made  Pet 
shiver  worse  than  any  wind.  The  poor  lad  saw  that  in  the 
grasp  of  such  a  man  he  could  offer  less  resistance  than  a  nut 
within  the  crackers,  and  even  his  champion,  the  sturdy 
Jordas,  might  struggle  without  much  avail.  He  gathered 
in  his  legs,  and  tucked  his  head  well  under  the  gorse  to 
watch  him. 

"  Surely  he  is  too  big  to  run  very  fast,"  thought  the 
boy,  with  his  valor  evaporated  ;  "  it  must  be  that  horrible 
Maunder.  What  a  blessing  that  I  stopped  up  here  just  in 
time  !  He  is  going  up  the  gill  to  cleave  some  wood.  Shall 
I  cut  away  at  once,  or  lie  flat  upon  my  stomach  ?  He 
would  be  sure  to  see  me  if  I  tried  to  run  away  ;  and  much 
he  would  care  for  his  landlord  !" 

In  such  a  choice  of  evils,  poor  Lancelot  resolved  to  lie 
still,  unless  the  monster  should  turn  his  steps  that  way. 
And  presently  he  had  the  heartfelt  pleasure  of  seeing  the 
formidable  stranger  take  the  track  that  followed  the  wind- 
ings of  the  brook.  But  instead  of  going  well  away,  and 
rounding  the  next  corner,  the  big  man  stopped  at  the  very 
spot  where  Insie  used  to  fill  her  pitcher,  pulled  off  his  coat 
and  hung  it  on  a  bush,  and  began  with  mighty  strokes  to 
fell  a  dead  alder4ree  that  stood  there.  As  his  great  arms 
swung,  and  his  back  rose  and  fell,  and  the  sway  of  his 
legs  seemed  to  shake  the  bank,  and  the  ring  of  his  axe 
filled  the  glen  with  echoes,  wrath  and  terror  were  fighting  a 
hot  battle  in  the  heart  of  Lancelot. 


THE    UEMON    OE   THE   AXE.  349 

His  sense  of  a  land-owner's  rights  and  titles  had  always 
been  most  imperious,  and  though  the  Scargate  estates  were 
his  as  yet  only  in  remainder,  he  was  even  more  jealous 
about  them  than  if  he  held  them  already  in  possession. 
What  right  had  this  man  to  cut  down  trees,  to  fell  and  ap- 
propriate timber  ?  Even  in  the  garden  which  he  rented  he 
could  not  rightfully  touch  a  stick  or  stock.  But  to  come 
out  here  a  good  furlong  from  his  renting,  and  begin  hacking 
and  hewing,  quite  as  if  the  land  were  his — it  seemed  almost 
too  brazen-faced  for  belief  !  It  must  be  stopped  at  once  ; 
such  outrageous  trespass  stopped,  and  punished  sternly, 
lie  would  stride  down  the  hill  with  a  summary  veto  ;  but, 
alas  !  if  he  did,  he  might  get  cut  down  too. 

Not  only  this  disagreeable  reflection,  but  also  his  tender 
regard  for  Insie,  prevented  him  from  challenging  this  pro- 
cess of  the  axe  ;  but  his  feelings  began  to  goad  him  toward 
something  worthy  of  a  Yordas — for  a  Yordas  he  always  ac- 
counted himself,  and  not  by  any  means  a  Carnaby.  And  to 
this  end  all  the  powers  of  his  home  conspired. 

"  That  fellow  is  terribly  big  and  strong,"  lie  said  to 
himself,  with  much  warmth  of  spirit;  "  but  his  axe  is  get- 
ting dull  ;  and  to  chop  down  that  tree  of  mine  will  take 
him  at  least  half  an  hour.  Dead  wood  is  harder  to  cut 
than  live.  And  when  he  has  done  that,  he  must  work  till 
dark  to  lop  the  branches,  and  so  on.  I  need  not  be  afraid 
of  anybody  but  this  fellow.  Now  is  my  time,  then,  while 
he  is  away.  Even  if  the  old  folk  are  at  home,  they  will 
listen  to  my  reasons.  The  next  time  he  comes  to  hack  my 
tree  on  this  side,  I  shall  slip  out  and  go  down  to  the  cot- 
tage. I  have  no  fear  of  any  one  that  pays  any  heed  to  rea- 
son. " 

This  sudden  admirer  and  lover  of  reason  cleverly  carried 
out  his  bold  discretion.  For  now  the  savage  woodman,  in- 
tent upon  that  levelling  which  is  the  highest  glory  of  pug- 
nacious minds,  came  round  the  tree,  glaring  at  it  (as  if  it 
were  the  murderer,  and  he  the  victim),  redoubling  his  tre- 
mendous thwacks  at  every  sign  of  tremor,  flinging  his  head 
back  with  a  spiteful  joy,  poising  his  shoulders  on  the  swing, 
and  then  with  all  his  weight  descending  into  the  trenchant 
blow.  When  his  back  was  fairly  turned  on  Lancelot,  and 


350  31  All Y   A^EllLEY. 

liis  whole  mind  and  body  thus  absorbed  upon  his  prey,  the 
lad  rose  quickly  from  his  lair,  and  slipped  over  the  crest  of 
the  gill  to  the  moorland.  In  a  moment  he  was  out  of  sight 
to  that  demon  of  the  axe,  and  gliding,  with  his  head  bent 
low,  along  a  little  hollow  of  the  heathery  ground,  which  cut 
off  a  bend  of  the  ravine,  and  again  struck  its  brink  a  good 
furlong  down  the  gill.  Here  Pet  stopped  running,  and  lay 
down,  and  peered  over  the  brink,  for  this  part  was  quite 
new  to  him,  and  resolved  as  he  was  to  make  a  bold  stroke 
of  it,  he  naturally  wished  to  see  how  the  land  lay,  and  what 
the  fortress  of  the  enemy  was  like,  ere  ever  he  ventured 
into  it. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

BATTERY     AND     ASSUMPSIT. 

THAT  little  moorland  glen,  whose  only  murmur  was  of 
wavelets,  and  principal  traffic  of  birds  and  rabbits,  even  at 
this  time  of  year  looked  pretty,  with  the  winter  light  wind- 
ing down  its  shelter  and  soft  quietude.  Ferny  pitches  and 
grassy  bends  set  off  the  harsh  outline  of  rock  and  shale, 
while  a  white  mist  (quivering  like  a  clew  above  the  rivulet) 
was  melting  into  the  faint  blue  haze  diffused  among  the 
foldings  and  recesses  of  the  land.  On  the  hither  side, 
nearly  at  the  bottom  of  the  slope,  a  bright  green  spot 
among  the  brown  and  yellow  roughness,  looking  by  com- 
parison most  smooth  and  rich,  showed  where  the  little  cot- 
tage grew  its  vegetables,  and  even  indulged  in  a  small  at- 
tempt at  fruit.  Behind  this,  the  humble  retirement  of  the 
cot  was  shielded  from  the  wind  by  a  breastwork  of  bold 
rock,  fringed  with  ground-ivy,  hanging  broom,  and  silver 
stars  of  the  carline.  So  simple  and  low  was  the  building, 
and  so  matched  with  the  colors  around  it,  that  but  for  the 
smoke  curling  up  from  a  pipe  of  red  pottery-ware,  a  stran- 
ger might  almost  have  overlooked  it.  The  walls  were  made 
from  the  rocks  close  by,  the  roof  of  fir  slabs  thatched  with 
ling  ;  there  was  no  upper  story,  and  (except  the  door  and 
windows)  all  the  materials  seemed  native  and  at  home. 


BATTERY   AND   ASSUMPSIT.  351 

Lancelot  had  heard,  by  putting  a  crafty  question  in  safq 
places,  that  the  people  of  the  gill  here  had  built  their  own 
dwelling,  a  good  many  years  ago  ;  and  it  looked  as  if  they 
could  have  done  it  easily. 

Now,  if  he  intended  to  spy  out  the  land,  and  the  house 
as  well,  before  the  giant  of  the  axe  returned,  there  was  no 
time  to  lose  in  beginning.  He  had  a  good  deal  of  sagacity 
in  tricks,  and  some  practice  in  little  arts  of  robbery.  For 
before  he  attained  to  this  exalted  state  of  mind  one  of  his 
favorite  pastimes  had  been  a  course  of  stealthy  raids  upon 
the  pears  in  Scargate  garden.  He  might  have  had  as  many 
as  he  liked  for  asking  ;  but  what  flavor  would  they  have 
thus  possessed  ?  Moreover,  he  bore  a  noble  spite  against 
the  gardener,  whose  special  pride  was  in  that  pear  wall  ; 
and  Pet  more  than  once  had  the  joy  of  beholding  him  thrash 
his  own  innocent  son  for  the  dark  disappearance  of  Beurrc 
and  Bergamot.  Making  good  use  of  this  experience,  he 
stole  his  way  down  the  steep  glen-side  behind  the  low  fence 
of  the  garden,  until  he  reached  the  bottom  and  the  brush- 
wood by  the  stream.  Here  he  stopped  to  observe  again, 
and  breathe,  and  get  his  spirit  up.  The  glassy  water 
looked  as  cold  as  death  ;  and  if  he  got  cramp  in  his  feet, 
how  could  he  run  ?  And  yet  he  could  see  no  other  way 
but  wading  of  approaching  the  cottage  unperceived. 

Now  fortune  (whose  privilege  it  is  to  cast  mortals  into 
the  holes  that  most  misfit  them)  sometimes,  when  she  has 
got  them  there,  takes  pity  and  contemptuously  lifts  them. 
Pet  was  in  a  hole  of  hardship  such  as  his  dear  mamma 
never  could  have  dreamed  of,  and  such  as  his  nurture  and 
constitution  made  trebly  disastrous  for  him.  lie  had  taken 
a  chill  from  his  ambush,  and  fright,  and  the  cold  wind 
over  the  snow  of  the  moor  ;  and  now  the  long  wading  of 
that  icy  water  might  have  ended  upon  the  shores  of  Ache- 
ron. However,  he  was  just  about  to  start  upon  that  pas- 
sage— for  the  spirit  of  his  race  was  up — when  a  dull  grat- 
ing sound,  as  of  footsteps  crunching  grit,  came  to  his  pret- 
tily concave  ears. 

At  this  sound  Lancelot  Carnaby  stopped  from  his  rash 
venture  into  the  water,  and  drew  himself  back  into  an  ivied 
bush,  which  served  as  the  finial  of  the  little  garden  hedge. 


MAltY   ANEIILEY. 

Peeping  through  tliis,  lie  could  see  lliat  the  walk  from  the 
cottage  to  the  hedge  was  newly  sprinkled  with  gray  wood 
ash,  perhaps  to  prevent  the  rain  from  lodging  and  the  snow 
from  lying  there.  Heavy  steps  of  two  old  men  (as  Pet  in 
the  insolence  of  young  days  called  them)  fell  upon  the  dull 
soft  crust,  and  ground  it,  heel  and  toe — heel  first,  as  stiff 
joints  have  it — with  the  bruising  snip  a  hungry  cow  makes, 
grazing  wiry  grasses.  "  One  of  them  must  be  Insie's 
dad,"  said  Pet  to  himself,  as  he  crouched  more  closely  be- 
hind the  hedge  ;  "  which  of  them,  I  wonder  ?  Well,  the 
tall  one,  I  suppose,  to  go  by  the  height  of  that  Maunder. 
And  the  other  has  only  one  arm  ;  and  a  man  with  one  arm 
could  never  have  built  their  house.  They  are  coming  to  sit 
on  that  bench  ;  I  shall  hear  every  word  they  say,  and  learn 
some  of  their  secrets  that  I  never  could  get  out  of  Insie  one 
bit  of.  But  I  wonder  who  that  other  fellow  is  ?" 

That  other  fellow,  in  spite  of  his  lease,  would  promptly 
have  laid  his  surviving  hand  to  the  ear  of  Master  Lancelot, 
or  any  other  eavesdropper  ;  for  a  sturdy  and  resolute  man 
was  he,  being  no  less  than  our  ancient  friend  and  old  sol- 
dier, Jack  of  the  Smithies.  And  now  was  verified  that 
homely  proverb  that  listeners  never  hear  good  of  them- 
selves. 

"  Sit  down,  my  friend, "  said  the  elder  of  the  twain,  a 
man  of  rough  dress  and  hard  hands,  but  good,  straightfor- 
ward aspect,  and  that  careless  humor  which  generally 
comes  from  a  life  of  adventures,  and  a  long  acquaintance 
with  the  world's  caprice.  "  I  have  brought  you  here  that 
we  may  be  undisturbed.  Little  pitchers  have  long  ears. 
My  daughter  is  as  true  as  steel  ;  but  this  matter  is  not  for 
her  at  present.  You  are  sure,  then,  that  Sir  Duncan  is  come 
home  at  last  ?  And  he  wished  that  I  should  know  it  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir,  he  wished  that  you  should  know  it.  So  soon 
as  I  told  him  that  you  was  here,  and  leading  what  one  may 
call  this  queer  life,  he  slapped  his  thigh  like  this  here — for 
he  hath  a  downright  way  of  everything — and  he  said, 
4  Now,  Smithies,  so  soon  as  you  get  home,  go  and  tell  him 
that  I  am  coming.  I  can  trust  him  as  I  trust  myself  ;  and 
glad  I  am  for  one  old  friend  in  the  parts  I  am  such  a  stran- 
ger to.  Years  and  years  I  have  longed  to  know  what  was 


I  UNIVERSITY 

\ 

BATTERY   AND   ASSUMPSIT. 


become  of  my  old  friend  Bart/  Tears  was  in  bis  eyes, 
your  bonor  :  Sir  Duncan  hath  seen  such  a  mighty  lot  of 
men,  that  bis  heart  cometh  up  to  the  few  he  hath  found 
deserving  of  the  name,  sir." 

"  You  said  that  you  saw  him  at  York,  I  think  ?" 

* '  Yes,  sir,  at  the  business  house  of  his  agent,  one  Mas- 
ter Geoffrey  Mordacks.  He  come  there  quite  unexpected, 
I  believe,  to  see  about  something  else  he  hath  in  hand,  and 
I  got  a  message  to  go  there  at  once.  I  save  his  life  once  in 
India,  sir,  from  one  of  they  cursed  Sours,  which  made  him 
take  heed  of  me,  and  me  of  him.  And  then  it  come  out 
where  I  come  from,  and  why  ;  and  the  both  of  us  spoke 
the  broad  Yorkshire  together,  like  as  I  dea  naa  care  to  do  to 
home.  After  that  he  got  on  wonderful,  as  you  know;  and 
I  stuck  to  him  through  the  whole  of  it,  from  luck  as  well 
as  liking,  till  if  I  had  gone  out  to  see  to  his  breeches,  I  could 
not  very  well  have  knowed  more  of  him.  And  I  tell  you, 
sir,  not  to  regard  him  for  a  Yordas.  He  hath  a  mind  far 
above  them  lot  ;  though  I  was  born  under  them,  to  say 
so." 

"  And  you  think  that  he  will  come  and  recover  his  rights, 
in  spite  of  his  father's  will  against  him.  I  know  nothing  of 
the  ladies  of  the  hall  ;  but  it  seems  a  hard  thing  to  turn 
them  out,  after  being  there  so  long. ' ' 

"  Who  was  turned  out  first,  they  or  him  ?  Five-and- 
twenty  years  of  tent,  open  sky,  jungle,  and  who  knows 
what  for  him — but  eider-down,  and  fireside,  and  fat  of  land 
for  them  !  No,  no,  sir  ;  whatever  shall  happen  there,  will 
be  God's  own  justice." 

"  Of  His  justice  who  shall  judge  ?"  said  Insie's  father, 
quietly.  "  But  is  there  not  a  young  man  grown,  who 
passes  for  the  heir  with  every  one  ?" 

"  Ay,  that  there  is  ;  and  the  best  game  of  all  will  be 
neck  and  crop  for  that  young  scamp.  A  bully,  a  coward,  a 
puling  milksop,  is  all  the  character  he  beareth.  He  giveth 
himself  born  airs,  as  if  every  inch  of  the  riding  belonged 
to  him.  He  hath  all  the  viciousness  of  Yordas,  without 
the  pluck  to  face  it  out.  A  little  beast  that  hath  the 
venom,  without  the  courage,  of  a  toad.  Ah,  how  I  should 
like  to  see — " 
23 


354  MARY   AKERLEY. 

Jack  of  the  Smithies  not  only  saw,  but  felt.  The  Yor- 
das  blood  was  up  in  Pet.  He  leaped  through  the  hedge, 
and  struck  this  man  with  a  sharp  quick  fist  in  either  eye. 
Smithies  fell  backward  behind  the  bench,  his  heels  danced 
in  the  air,  and  the  stump  of  his  arm  got  wedged  in  the 
stubs  of  a  bush,  while  Lancelot  glared  at  him  with  mad 
eyes. 

"  What  next?"  said  his  companion,  rising  calmly,  and 
steadfastly  gazing  at  Lancelot. 

"  The  next  thing  is  to  kill  him  ;  and  it  shall  be  done," 
the  furious  youth  replied,  while  he  swung  the  gentleman's 
big  stick,  which  he  had  seized,  and  danced  round  his  foe 
with  the  speed  of  a  wild-cat.  "  Don't  meddle,  or  it  will 
be  worse  for  you.  You  heard  what  he  said  of  me.  Get 
out  of  the  way. ' ' 

"  Indeed,  my  young  friend,  I  shall  do  nothing  of  the 
sort."  But  the  old  man  was  not  at  all  sure  that  he  could 
do  much,  such  was  the  fury  and  agility  of  the  youth,  who 
jumped  three  yards  for  every  step  of  his,  while  the  poor 
old  soldier  could  not  move.  The  boy  skipped  round  the 
protecting  figure,  whose  grasp  he  eluded  easily,  and  swing- 
ing the  staff  with  both  hands,  aimed  a  great  blow  at  the 
head  of  his  enemy.  Suddenly  the  other  interposed  the 
bench,  upon  which  the  stick  fell,  and  broke  short  ;  and 
before  the  assailant  could  recover  from  the  jerk,  he  was  a 
prisoner  in  two  powerful  old  arms. 

"  You  are  so  wild,  that  we  must  make  you  fast,"  his 
captor  said,  with  a  benignant  smile  ;  and  struggle  as  he 
might,  the  boy  was  very  soon  secured.  His  antagonist 
drew  forth  a  red  bandana  handkerchief,  and  fastened  his 
bleeding  hands  behind  his  back.  "  There  now,  lad,"  he 
said,  "  you  can  do  no  mischief.  Recover  your  temper,  sir, 
and  tell  us  who  you  are,  as  soon  as  you  are  sane  enough  to 
know." 

Pet,  having  spent  his  just  indignation,  began  to  perceive 
that  he  had  made  a  bad  investment.  His  desire  had  been 
to  maintain  in  this  particular  spot  strict  privacy  from  all 
except  Insie,  to  whom,  in  the  largeness  of  love,  he  had 
declared  himself.  Yet  here  he  stood,  promulged  and 
published,  strikingly  and  flagrantly  pronounced  !  At  first 


BATTERY   AND   ASSUMPSIT  355 

he  was  like  to  sulk,  in  tho  style  of  a  hawk  which  has  failed 
of  his  swoop  ;  but  seeing  his  enemy  arising  slowly  with 
grunts,  and  action  nodose  and  angular,  rather  than  flex- 
ibly graceful,  contempt  became  the  uppermost  feature  of 
his  mind. 

"  My  name,"  he  said,  "  if  you  are  not  afraid  of  it,  that 
you  tie  me  in  this  cowardly  low  manner,  is — Lancelot  Yor- 
das  Carnaby. " 

"  My  boy,  it  is  a  long  name  for  any  one  to  carry.  No 
wonder  that  you  look  weak  beneath  it.  And  where  do  you 
live,  young  gentleman  ?M 

Amazement  sat  upon  the  face  of  Pet — a  genuine  aston- 
ishment, entirely  pure  from  wrath.  It  was  wholly  beyond 
his  imagination  that  any  one,  after  hearing  his  name,  should 
have  to  ask  him  where  he  lived.  He  thought  that  the 
question  must  be  put  in  low  mockery,  and  to  answer  was 
far  beneath  his  dignity. 

By  this  time  the  veteran  Jack  of  the  Smithies  had  got 
out  of  his  trap,  and  was  standing  stiffly,  passing  his  hand 
across  his  sadly  smitten  eyes,  and  talking  to  himself  about 
them. 

"  Two  black  eyes  at  my  time  of  life,  as  sure  as  I'm  a 
Christian  !  Howsomever,  young  chap,  I  likes  you  better. 
Never  dreamed  there  was  such  good  stuff  in  you.  Master 
Bart,  cast  him  loose,  if  so  please  you.  Let  me  shake  hands 
with  un,  and  bear  no  malice.  Bad  words  deserve  hard 
blows  ;  and  I  ask  his  pardon  for  driving  him  into  it.  I 
called  un  a  milksop,  and  he  hath  proved  me  a  liar.  He 
may  be  a  bad  un,  but  with  good  stuff  in  un.  Lord  bless 
me,  I  never  would  have  believed  the  lad  could  hit  so 
smartly !" 

Pet  was  well  pleased  with  this  tribute  to  his  prowess  ; 
but  as  for  shaking  hands  with  a  tenant,  and  a  "  common 
man" — as  every  one  not  of  gentle  birth  was  then  called — 
such  an  act  was  quite  below  him,  or  above  him,  according 
as  we  take  his  own  opinion  or  the  truth.  And  possibly  he 
rose  in  Smithies'  mind  by  drawing  back  from  bodily  over- 
ture. 

Mr.  Bart  looked  on  with  all  the  bliss  of  an  ancient  inter- 
preter. He  could  follow  out  the  level  of  the  vein  of  each, 


356  MARY   A1STERLEY. 

as  no  one  may  do  except  a  gentleman,  perhaps,  who  has 
turned  himself  deliberately  into  a  "  common  man."  Bart 
had  done  his  utmost  toward  this  end  ;  but  the  process  is 
difficult  when  voluntary. 

"  I  think  it  is  time,"  he  now  said,  firmly,  to  the 
unshackled  and  triumphant  Pet,  "  for  Lancelot  Yordas 
Carnaby  to  explain  what  has  brought  him  into  such  humble 
quarters,  and  induced  him  to  turn  eavesdropper  ;  which 
was  not  considered  (at  least  in  my  young  days)  altogether 
the  part  of  a  gentleman. ' ' 

The  youth  had  not  seen  quite  enough  of  the  world  to  be 
pat  with  a  fertile  lie  as  yet,  especially  under  such  searching 
eyes.  However,  he  did  as  much  as  could  be  well  expected. 

' '  I  was  just  looking  over  my  property, ' '  he  said, 
"  and  I  thought  I  heard  somebody  cutting  down  my 
timber.  I  came  to  see  who  it  was,  and  I  heard  people  talk- 
ing, and  before  I  could  ask  them  about  it,  I  heard  myself 
abused  disgracefully  ;  and  that  was  more  than  I  could 
stand." 

"  We  must  take  it  for  granted  that  a  brave  young  gentle- 
man of  your  position  would  tell  no  falsehood.  You  assure 
us,  on  your  honor,  that  you  heard  no  more  ?" 

"  Well,  I  heard  voices,  sir  ;  but  nothing  to  understand, 
or  make  head  or  tail  of. ' '  There  was  some  truth  in  this, 
for  young  Lancelot  had  not  the  least  idea  who  '  '  Sir  Dun- 
can" was.  His  mother  and  aunt  had  kept  him  wholly  in 
the  dark  as  to  any  lost  uncle  in  India.  "  I  should  like  to 
know  what  it  was, ' '  he  added,  "if  it  has  anything  to  do 
with  me. ' ' 

This  was  a  very  clever  hit  of  his  ;  and  it  made  the  old 
gentleman  believe  him  altogether. 

' 1  All  in  good  time,  my  young  friend, ' '  he  answered,  even 
with  a  smile  of  some  pity  for  the  youth.  "  But  you  are 
scarcely  old  enough  for  business  questions,  although  so  keen 
about  your  timber.  Now,  after  abusing  you  so  disgracefully, 
as  I  admit  that  my  friend  here  has  done,  and  after  roping 
your  pugnacious  hands,  as  I  myself  was  obliged  to  do,  we 
never  can  launch  you  upon  the  moor,  in  such  weather  as 
this,  without  some  food.  You  are  not  very  strong,  and  you 


BATTERY   AND   ASSUMPSIT.  357 

have  overdone  yourself.  Let  us  go  to  the  house  and  have 
something." 

Jack  of  the  Smithies  showed  alacrity  at  this,  as  nearly  all 
old  soldiers  must  ;  but  Pet  was  much  oppressed  with  care, 
and  the  intellect  in  his  breast  diverged  into  sore  distraction 
of  anxious  thought.  Whether  should  he  draw  the  keen 
sword  of  assurance,  put  aside  the  others,  and  see  Insie,  or 
whether  should  he  start  with  best  foot  foremost,  scurry  up 
the  hill  and  avoid  the  axe  of  Maunder  ?  Pallas  counselled 
this  course,  and  Aphrodite  that  ;  and  the  latter  prevailed, 
as  she  always  used  to  do,  until  she  produced  the  present 
dry-cut  generation. 

Lancelot  bowed  to  the  gentleman  of  the  gill,  and  followed 
him  along  the  track  of  grit,  which  set  his  little  pearly  teeth 
on  edge  ;  while  Jack  of  the  Smithies  led,  and  formed,  the 
rear-guard.  "  This  is  coming  now  to  something  very 
queer, ' '  thought  Pet.  *  '  After  all,  it  might  have  been  bet- 
ter for  me  to  take  my  chance  with  the  hatchet  man." 

Brown  dusk  was  ripely  settling  down  among  the  mossy 
apple-trees,  and  the  leafless  alders  of  the  brook,  and  the 
russet  and  yellow  memories  of  late  autumn  lingering  in  the 
glen,  while  the  peaky  little  freaks  of  snow,  and  the  cold 
sighs  of  the  wind,  suggested  fireside  and  comfort.  Mr. 
Bart  threw  open  his  cottage  door,  and  bowing  as  to  a  wel- 
come guest,  invited  Pet  to  enter.  No  passage,  no  cold 
entrance-hall,  demanded  scrapes  of  ceremony  ;  but  here 
was  the  parlor,  and  the  feeding-place,  and  the  warm  dance 
of  the  fire-glow.  Logs  that  meant  to  have  a  merry  time, 
and  spread  a  cheerful  noise  abroad,  ere  ever  they  turned  to 
embers,  were  snorting  forth  the  pointed  flames,  and  spitting 
soft  protests  of  sap.  And  before  them  stood,  with  eyes 
more  bright  than  any  flash  of  firelight,  intent  upon  rich 
simmering  scents,  a  lovely  form,  a  grace  of  dainties — oh,  M 
goddess  certainly  ! 

"  Master  Carnaby,"  said  the  host,  "  allow  me,  sir,  the 
honor  to  present  my  daughter  to  you.  Insie,  darling,  this 
is  Mr.  Lancelot  Yordas  Carnaby.  Make  him  a  pretty  cour- 
tesy." 

Insie  turned  round  with  a  rosy  blush,  brighter  than  the 
brightest  fire-wood,  and  tried  to  look  at  Pet  as  if  she  had 


358  MARY   ANERLEY. 

never  even  dreamed  of  such  a  being.  Pet  drew  hard  upon 
his  heart,  and  stood  bewildered,  tranced,  and  dazzled.  He 
had  never  seen  Insie  in-doors  before,  which  makes  a  great 
difference  in  a  girl  ;  and  the  vision  was  too  bright  for  him. 

For  here,  at  her  own  hearth,  she  looked  so  gentle,  sweet, 
and  lovely.  No  longer  wild  and  shy,  or  gayly  mischievous 
and  watchful,  but  calm-eyed,  firm-lipped,  gravely  courte- 
ous ;  intent  upon  her  father's  face,  and  banishing  not  into 
shadow  so  much  as  absolute  nullity  any  one  who  dreamed 
that  he  ever  filled  a  pitcher  for  her,  or  fed  her  with  grouse 
and  partridge,  and  committed  the  incredible  atrocity  of  kiss- 
ing her. 

Lancelot  ceased  to  believe  it  possible  that  he  could  have 
done  such  a  thing  as  that,  while  he  saw  how  she  never 
would  see  him  at  all,  or  talk  in  the  voice  that  he  had  been  ac- 
customed to,  or  even  toss  her  head  in  the  style  he  had 
admired,  when  she  tried  to  pretend  to  make  light  of  him. 
If  she  would  only  make  light  of  him  now,  he  would  be  well 
contented,  and  say  to  himself  that  she  did  it  on  purpose,  for 
fear  of  the  opposite  extreme.  But  the  worst  of  it  was  that 
she  has  quite  forgotten,  beyond  blink  of  inquiry  or  gleam 
of  hope,  that  ever  in  her  life  she  had  set  eyes  on  a  youth  of 
such  perfect  insignificance  before. 

"  My  friend,  you  ought  to  be  hungry,'7  said  Bart  of  the 
Gill,  as  he  was  proud  to  call  himself  ;  "  after  your  exploit 
you  should  be  fed.  Your  vanquished  foe  will  sit  next  to  you. 
Insie,  you  are  harassed  in  mind  by  the  countenance  of  our 
old  friend  Master  John  Smithies.  He  has  met  with  a  little 
mishap — never  mind — the  rising  generation  is  quick  of 
temper.  A  soldier  respects  his  victor  ;  it  is  a  beautiful 
arrangement  of  Providence,  otherwise  wars  would  never 
cease.  Now  give  our  two  guests  a  good  dish  of  the  best, 
piping  hot,  and  of  good  meaty  fibre.  We  will  have  our 
own  supper  by  and  by,  when  Maunder  comes  home,  and 
your  mother  is  ready.  Gentlemen,  fall  to  ;  you  have  far  to 
go,  and  the  moors  are  bad  after  nightfall." 

Lancelot,  proudly  as  he  stood  upon  his  rank,  saw  fit  to 
make  no  objection.  Not  only  did  his  inner  man  cry 
"  Feed,  even  though  a  common  man  feed  with  thee, " 
but  his  mind  was  under  the  influence  of  a  stronger  one, 


BATTERY  AND   ASSUMPSIT.  359 

which  scorned  such  stuff.     Moreover,  Insie,   for  the   first 
time,   gave  him  a  glance,   demure  but  imperative,  which . 
meant,  *  '  Obey  my  father,  sir. ' ' 

He  obeyed,  and  was  rewarded  ;  for  the  beautiful  girl 
came  round  him  so,  to  hand  whatever  he  wanted,  and 
seemed  to  feel  so  sweetly  for  him  in  his  strange  position, 
that  he  scarcely  knew  what  he  was  eating,  only  that  it 
savored  of  rich  rare  love,  and  came  from  the  loveliest  crea- 
ture in  the  world.  In  stern  fact,  it  came  from  the  head  of 
a  sheep,  but  neither  jaws  nor  teeth  were  seen.  Upon  one 
occasion,  he  was  almost  sure  that  a  curl  of  Insie 's  lovely 
hair  fell  upon  the  back  of  his  stooping  neck  ;  he  could 
scarcely  keep  himself  from  jumping  up  ;  and  he  whispered, 
very  softly,  when  the  old  man  was  away,  "  Oh,  if  you 
would  only  do  that  again  !"  But  his  darling  made  manifest 
that  this  was  a  mistake,  and  applied  herself  sedulously  to 
the  one-armed  Jack. 

Jack  of  the  Smithies  was  a  trencher-man  of  the  very  first 
order,  and  being  well  wedded  (with  a  promise  already  of 
young  soldiers  to  come),  it  behooved  him  to  fill  all  his  holes 
away  from  home,  and  spare  his  own  cupboard  for  the  sake 
of  Mistress  Smithies.  He  perceived  the  duty,  and  per- 
formed it,  according  to  the  discipline  of  the  British  army. 

But  Insie  was  fretting  in  the  conscience  of  her  heart  to 
get  the  young  Lancelot  fed  and  dismissed  before  the  return 
of  her  great  wild  brother.  Not  that  he  would  hurt  their 
guest,  though  unwelcome  ;  or  even  show  any  sort  of  rudeness 
to  him  ;  but  more  than  ever  now,  since  she  heard  of  Pet's 
furious  onslaught  upon  the  old  soldier — which  made  her 
begin  to  respect  him  a  little — she  longed  to  prevent  any 
meeting  between  this  gallant  and  the  rough  Maunder.  And 
that  anxiety  led  her  to  look  at  Pet  with  a  melancholy  kind- 
ness. Then  Jack  of  the  Smithies  cut  things  short. 

"  Off's  the  word,"  he  said,  "  if  ever  I  expects  to  see 
home  afore  daylight.  All  of  these  moors  is  known  to  me, 
and  many's  the  time  I  have  tracked  them  all  in  sleep,  when 
the  round  world  was  betwixt  us.  But  without  any  moon  it 
is  hard  to  do  'em  waking  ;  and  the  loss  of  my  arm  sends 
me  crooked  in  the  dark.  And  as  for  young  folk,  they  be 
all  abroad  to  once.  With  your  leave,  Master  Bart,  I'll  be 


360  MARY  AKERLEY. 

off  immediate,  after  getting  all  I  wants,  as  the  manner  of 
the  world  is.  My  good  missus  will  be  wondering  what  is 
come  of  me. ' ' 

"  You  have  spoken  well,"  his  host  replied,  "  and  I  think 
we  shall  have  a  heavy  fall  to-night.  But  this  young  gentle- 
man must  not  go  home  alone.  He  is  not  robust,  and  the 
way  is  long  and  rough.  I  have  seen  him  shivering  several 
times.  I  will  fetch  my  staff,  and  march  with  him. ' ' 

'  '  No,  sir,  I  will  not  have  such  a  thing  done, ' '  the  vet- 
eran answered,  sturdily.  "  If  the  young  gentleman  is  a  gen- 
tleman, he  will  not  be  afraid  for  me  to  take  him  home,  in 
spite  of  what  he  hath  done  to  me.  Speak  up,  young  man, 
are  you  frightened  of  me  ?" 

"  Not  if  you  are  not  afraid  of  me,"  said  Pet,  who  had 
now  forgotten  all  about  that  Maunder,  and  only  longed  to 
stay  where  he  was,  and  set  up  a  delicious  little  series  of 
glances.  For  the  room,  and  the  light,  and  the  tenor  of  the 
place,  began  more  and  more  to  suit  such  uses.  And  most 
and  best  of  all,  his  Insie  was  very  thankful  to  him  for  his 
good  behavior  ;  and  he  scarcely  could  believe  that  she 
wanted  him  to  go.  To  go,  however,  was  his  destiny  ;  and 
when  he  had  made  a  highly  laudible  and  far-away  salute,  it 
happened — in  the  shift  of  people,  and  of  light,  and  cloth- 
ing, which  goes  on  so  much  in  the  winter-time — that  a  lit- 
tle hand  came  into  his,  and  rose  to  his  lips,  with  ground  of 
action  laid,  not  for  assault  and  battery,  but  simply  for  as- 
sumpsit. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

STORMY    GAP. 

SNOWY  weather  now  set  in,  and  people  were  content  to 
stay  at  home.  Among  the  scaurs  and  fells  and  moors  the 
most  perturbed  spirit  was  compelled  to  rest,  or  try  to  do 
so,  or  at  any  rate  not  agitate  its  body  out-of-doors.  Lazy 
folk  were  suited  well  with  reason  good  for  laziness  ;  and 
gentle  minds  that  dreaded  evil  gladly  found  its  communi- 
cation stopped. 


STOEMY  GAP.  361 

Combined  excitement  and  exertion,  strong  amazement, 
ardent  love,  and  a  cold  of  equal  severity,  laid  poor  Pet 
Carnaby  by  the  heels,  and  reduced  him  to  perpetual  gruel. 
He  was  shut  off  from  external  commune,  and  strictly 
blockaded  in  his  bedroom,  where  his  only  attendants  were 
his  sweet  mother,  and  an  excellent  nurse  who  stroked  his 
forehead,  and  called  him  "  dear  Pet,"  till  he  hated  her, 
and,  worst  of  all,  that  Dr.  Spraggs,  who  lived  in  the  house, 
because  the  weather  was  so  bad. 

"  We  have  taken  a  chill,  and  our  mind  is  a  little 
unhinged/'  said  the  skilful  practitioner.  "  Careful  diet, 
complete  repose,  a  warm  surrounding  atmosphere,  absence 
of  undue  excitement,  and,  above  all,  a  course  of  my  gentle 
alteratives  regularly  administered — these  are  the  very  sim- 
ple means  to  restore  our  beloved  patient.  He  is  certainly 
making  progress  ;  but  I  assure  you,  my  dear  madam,  or 
rather  I  need  not  tell  a  lady  of  such  wonderfully  clear  per- 
ception, that  remedial  measures  must  be  slow  to  be  truly 
efficacious.  With  lower  organizations  we  may  deal  in  a 
more  empiric  style  ;  but  no  experiments  must  be  tried 
here— " 

u  Dr.  Spraggs,  I  should  hope  not,  indeed.  You  alarm 
me  by  the  mere  suggestion. " 

u  Gradation,  delicately  pursued,  adapted  subtly,  discri- 
minated nicely  by  the  unerring  diagnosis  of  extensive  medi- 
cal experience,  combined  with  deep  study  of  the  human 
system,  and  a  highly  distinguished  university  career — such, 
madam,  are,  in  my  humble  opinion,  the  true  elements  of 
permanent  amelioration.  At  the  same  time  we  must  not 
conceal  from  ourselves  that  our  constitution  is  by  no  means 
one  of  ordinary  organization.  None  of  your  hedger-and- 
ditcher  class,  but  delicate,  fragile,  impulsive,  sensitive, 
liable  to  inopine  derangements  from  excessive  activity  of 
mind—" 

"  Oh,  Dr.  Spraggs,  he  has  been  reading  poetry,  which 
none  of  our  family  ever  even  dreamed  of  doing  ;  it  is  a 
young  man,  over  your  way  somewhere.  Possibly  you  may 
have  heard  of  him." 

"  That  young  man  has  a  great  deal  to  answer  for.  I 
have  traced  a  very  bad  case  of  whooping-cough  to  him. 


362  MARY   ANKRLEY. 

That  explains  many  symptoms  which  I  could  not  quite  make 
out.  We  will  take  away  this  book,  madam,  and  give  him 
Dr.  Watts — the  only  wholesome  poet  that  our  country  has 
produced,  though  even  his  opinions  would  be  better  ex- 
pressed in  prose." 

But  the  lad,  in  spite  of  all  this  treatment,  slowly  did  re- 
cover, and  then  obtained  relief,  which  set  him  on  his  nimble 
legs  again.  For  his  Aunt  Philippa,  one  snowy  morning, 
went  into  the  room  beneath  that  desperately-sick  chamber, 
to  see  whether  wreaths  of  snow  had  entered,  as  they  often 
did,  between  the  loose  joints  of  the  casement.  She  walked 
very  carefully,  for  fear  of  making  a  noise  that  might  be 
heard  above,  and  disturb  the  repose  of  the  poor  invalid. 
But,  to  her  surprise,  there  came  loud  thumps  from  above, 
and  a  quivering  of  the  ceiling,  and  a  sound  as  of  rushing 
steps,  and  laughter,  and  uproarious  jollity. 

"  What  can  it  be  ?  1  arn  perfectly  amazed,"  said  Mis- 
tress Yordas  to  herself.  ' '  I  must  inquire  into  this. ' y 

She  knew  that  her  sister  was  out  of  the  way,  and  the 
nurse  in  the  kitchen,  having  one  of  her  frequent  feeds  and 
agreeable  discourses.  So  she  went  to  a  mighty  ring  in  her 
own  room,  as  large  as  an  untaxed  carriage- wheel,  and  from 
it  (after  due  difficulty)  took  the  spare  key  of  the  passage 
door  that  led  the  way  to  Lancelot. 

No  sooner  had  she  passed  this  door  than  she  heard  a  noise 
a  great  deal  worse  that  the  worst  imagination — whiz,  and 
hiss,  and  crack,  and  smash,  and  rolling  of  hollow  things 
over  hollow  places,  varied  with  shouts,  and  the  flapping 
of  skirts,  and  jingling  of  money  upon  heart  of  oak  ;  these 
and  many  other  travails  of  the  air  (including  strong  lan- 
guage) amazed  the  lady.  Hastening  into  the  sick-room, 
she  found  the  window  wide  open,  with  the  snow  pouring  in, 
a  dozen  of  phial  bottles  ranged  like  skittles,  some  full  and 
some  empty,  and  Lancelot  dancing  about  in  his  night-gown, 
with  "  Divine  Songs"  poised  for  another  hurl. 

"  Two  for  a  full,  and  one  for  an  empty.  Seven  to  me, 
and  four  to  you.  No  cheating  now,  or  I'll  knock  you 
over,"  he  was  shouting  to  Welldrum's  boy,  who  had  clearly 
been  smuggled  in  at  the  window  for  this  game.  "  There's 


STORMY   GAP.  3G3 

plenty  more  in  old  Spraggs's  chest.  Holloa  !  here's  Aunt 
Philippa." 

Mistress  Yordas  was  not  displeased  with  this  spirited  ap- 
plication of  pharmacy  ;  she  at  once  flung  wide  the  passage 
door,  and  Pet  was  free  of  the  house  again,  but  upon  parole 
not  to  venture  out  of  doors.  The  first  use  he  made  of  his 
liberty  was  to  seek  the  faithful  Jordas,  who  possessed  a  little 
private  sitting-room,  and  there  hold  secret  council  with  him. 

The  dogman  threw  his  curly  head  back,  when  he  had  lis- 
tened to  his  young  lord's  tale  (which  contained  the  truth, 
and  nothing  but  the  truth,  yet  not  by  any  means  the  whole 
truth,  for  the  leading  figure  was  left  out),  and  a  snort  from 
his  broad  nostrils  showed  contempt  and  strong  vexation. 

"  Just  what  I  said  would  come  o'  such  a  job/7  he  mut- 
tered, without  thought  of  Lancelot  ;  "  to  let  in  a  traitor, 
and  spake  him  fair,  and  make  much  of  him.  I  wish  you 
had  knocked  his  two  eyes  out,  Master  Lance,  instead  of 
only  blacking  of  un.  And  a  fortnight  lost  through  that 
p'isonin'  Spraggs  !  And  the  weather  going  on,  snow  and 
thaw,  snow  and  thaw.  There's  scarcely  a  dog  can  stand, 
let  alone  a  horse,  and  the  wreaths  getting  deeper.  Most 
onlucky  !  It  hath  come  to  pass  most  ontoimely." 

' '  But  who  is  Sir  Duncan  ?  And  who  is  Mr.  Bart?  I 
have  told  you  everything,  Jordas  ;  and  all  you  do  is  to  tell 
me  nothing." 

u  What  more  can  I  tell  you,  sir?  You  seem  to  know 
most  about  'em.  And  what  was  it  as  took  you  down  that 
way,  sir,  if  I  may  make  so  bold  to  ask  ?" 

"  Jordas,  that  is  no  concern  of  yours  ;  every  gentleman 
has  his  own  private  affairs,  which  cannot  in  any  way  con- 
cern a  common  man.  But  I  wish  you  particularly  to  find 
out  all  that  can  be  known  about  Mr.  Bart — what  made  him 
come  here,  and  why  does  he  live  so,  and  how  much  has  he 
got  a  year.  He  seems  to  be  quite  a  gentleman — " 

"  Then  his  private  affairs,  sir,  cannot  concern  a  common 
man.  You  had  better  ways  go  yourself  and  ask  him,  or 
ask  his  friend  with  the  two  black  eyes.  Now  just  you  do 
as  I  bid  you,  Master  Lance.  Not  a  word  of  all  this  here  to 
my  ladies  ;  but  think  of  something  as  you  must  have  imme- 
diate from  Middleton.  Something  as  your  health  requires  " 


364  MARY   AtfERLEY. 

— here  Jordas  indulged  in  a  sarcastic  grin — "  something  as 
must  come,  if  the  sky  come  down,  or  the  Day  of  Judgment 
was  to-morrow. ' ' 

1 '  I  know,  yes,  I  am  quite  up  to  you,  Jordas.  Let  me  see  ; 
last  time  it  was  a  sweet-bread.  That  would  never  do  again. 
It  shall  be  a  hundred  oysters  ;  and  Spraggs  shall  command 
it,  or  be  turned  out. ' ' 

"  Jordas,  I  really  cannot  bear,"  said  the  kind  Mrs.  Car- 
naby,  an  hour  afterward,  "  that  you  should  seem  almost 
to  risk  your  life  by  riding  to  Middleton  in  such  dreadful 
weather.  Are  you  sure  that  it  will  not  snow  again,  and 
quite  sure  that  you  can  get  through  all  the  wreaths  ?  If 
not,  I  would  on  no  account  have  you  go.  Perhaps,  after 
all,  it  is  but  the  fancy  of  a  poor  fantastic  invalid,  though 
Dr.  Spraggs  feels  that  it  is  so  important,  and  may  be  the 
turning-point  in  his  sad  illness.  It  seems  such  a  long  way 
in  such  weather  ;  and  selfish  people,  who  can  never  under- 
stand, might  say  that  it  was  quite  unkind  of  us.  But  if  you 
have  made  up  your  mind  to  go,  in  spite  of  all  remonstrance, 
you  must  be  sure  to  come  back  to-night  ;  and  do  please  to 
see  that  the  oysters  are  round,  and  have  not  got  any  of 
their  lids  up." 

The  dogman  knew  well  that  he  jeopardized  his  life  in 
either  half  of  the  journey  ;  no  little  in  going,  and  tenfold 
as  much  in  returning  through  the  snows  of  night.  Though 
the  journey  in  the  first  place  had  been  of  his  own  seeking, 
and  his  faithful  mind  was  set  upon  it,  some  little  sense  of 
bitterness  was  in  his  heart,  that  his  life  was  not  thought 
more  of.  He  made  a  low  bow,  and  turned  away,  that  he 
might  riot  meet  those  eyes  so  full  of  anxiety  for  another,  and 
of  none  for  him.  And  when  he  came  to  think  of  it,  he  was 
sorry  afterward  for  indulging  in  a  little  bit  of  two-edged 
satire. 

"  Will  you  please  to  ask  my  lady  if  I  may  take  Marma- 
duke  ?  Or  whether  she  would  be  afeared  to  risk  him  in 
such  weather  ?" 

"  I  think  it  is  unkind  of  you  to  speak  like  that.  I  need 
not  ask  my  sister,  as  you  ought  to  know.  Of  course  you 
may  take  Marmaduke.  I  need  not  tell  you  to  be  careful  of 
him." 


STORMY   GAP.  365 

After  that,  if  he  had  chosen  for  himself,  he  would  not 
have  taken  Marmaduke.  But  he  thought  of  the  impor- 
tance of  his  real  purpose,  and  could  trust  no  other  horse  to 
get  him  through  it. 

In  fine  summer  weather,  when  the  sloughs  were  in,  and 
the  water-courses  low  or  dry,  and  the  roads  firm,  wherever 
there  were  any,  a  good  horse  and  rider,  well  acquainted 
with  the  track,  might  go  from  Scargate  Hall  to  Middleton 
in  about  three  hours,  nearly  all  of  the  journey  being  well 
down  hill.  But  the  travel  to  come  back  was  a  very  differ- 
ent thing  ;  four  hours  and  a  half  was  quick  time  for  it, 
even  in  the  best  state  of  earth  and  sky,  and  the  Royal  Mail 
pony  was  allowed  a  good  seven,  because  his  speed  (when 
first  established)  had  now  impaired  his  breathing.  And 
ever  since  the  snow  set  in,  he  had  received  his  money  for 
the  journey,  but  preferred  to  stay  in  stable  ;  for  which 
everybody  had  praised  him,  finding  letters  give  them  indi- 
gestion. 

Now  Jordas  roughed  Marmaduke 's  shoes  himself,  for  the 
snow  would  be  frozen  in  the  colder  places,  and  ball  wher- 
ever any  softness  was — two  things  which  demand  very  dif- 
ferent measures.  Also  he  fed  him  well  and  nourished  him- 
self, and  took  nurture  for  the  road  ;  so  that  with  all  haste 
he  could  not  manage  to  start  before  twelve  of  the  day. 
Travelling  was  worse  than  he  expected,  and  the  snow  very 
deep  in  places,  especially  at  Stormy  Gap,  about  a  league 
from  Scargate.  Moreover,  he  knew  that  the  strength  of 
his  horse  must  be  carefully  husbanded  for  the  return  ;  and 
so  it  was  dusk  of  the  winter  evening,  and  the  shops  of  the 
little  town  were  being  lit  with  hoops  of  candles,  when  Jor- 
das, followed  by  Saracen,  came  trotting  through  the  un- 
pretending street. 

That  ancient  dog  Saracen,  the  largest  of  the  blood- 
hounds, had  joined  the  expedition  as  a  volunteer,  craftily 
following  and  crouching  out  of  sight,  until  he  was  certain 
of  being  too  far  from  home  to  be  sent  back  again.  Then 
he  boldly  appeared  and  cantered  gayly  on  in  front  of  Mar- 
maduke, with  his  heavy  dewlaps  laced  with  snow. 

Jordas  put  up  at  a  quiet  old  inn,  and  had  Saracen  chained 
strongly  to  a  ring-bolt  in  the  stable  ;  then  he  set  off  afoot 


366  MARY   AKERLEY. 

to  see  Mr.  Jellicorse,  and  just  as  he  rang  the  office  bell  a 
little  fleecy  twinkle  fell  upon  one  of  his  eyelashes,  and  look- 
ing sharply  up  he  saw  that  a  snowy  night  was  coming. 

The  worthy  lawyer  received  him  kindly,  but  not  at  all  as 
if  he  wished  to  see  him  ;  for  Christmas-tide  was  very  nigh 
at  hand,  and  the  weather  made  the  ink  go  thick,  and  only 
a  clerk  who  was  working  for  promotion  would  let  his  hat 
stay  on  its  peg  after  the  drum  and  fife  went  by,  as  they  al- 
ways did  at  dusk  of  night,  to  frighten  Bonyparty. 

"  There  are  only  two  important  facts  in  all  you  have  told 
me,  Jordas,"  Mr.  Jellicorse  said,  when  he  had  heard  him 
out.  "  One,  that  Sir  Duncan  is  come  home — of  which  I 
was  aware  some  time  ago — and  the  other,  that  he  has  been 
consulting  an  agent  of  the  name  of  Mordacks,  living  in  this 
county.  That  certainly  looks  as  if  he  meant  to  take  some 
steps  against  us.  But  what  can  he  do  more  than  might 
have  been  done  five-and-twenty  years  ago  ?"  The  lawyer 
took  good  care  to  speak  to  none  but  his  principals  concern- 
ing that  plaguesome  deed  of  appointment. 

"  Well,  sir,  you  know  best,  no  doubt.  Only  that  ho 
hath  the  money  now,  by  all  accounts  ;  and  like  enough  he 
hath  labored  for  it  a'  purpose  to  fight  my  ladies.  If  your 
honor  knew  as  well  as  I  do  what  a  Yordas  is  for  fighting, 
and  for  downright  stubbornness — " 

u  Perhaps  I  do,"  replied  the  lawyer  with  a  smile  ;  "  but 
if  he  has  no  children  of  his  own,  as  I  believe  is  the  case 
with  him,  it  seems  unlikely  that  he  would  risk  his  sub- 
stance in  a  rash  attempt  to  turn  out  those  who  are  his 
heirs." 

"  He  is  not  so  old  but  what  he  might  have  children  yet, 
if  he  hath  none  now  to  hand.  Anyways,  it  was  my  duty  to 
tell  you  my  news  immediate." 

"  Jordas,  I  always  say  that  you  are  a  model  of  a  true 
retainer — a  character  becoming  almost  extinct  in  this  faith- 
less and  revolutionary  age.  Very  few  men  would  have 
ridden  into  town  through  all  those  dangerous  unmade  roads, 
in  weather  when  even  the  Royal  Mail  is  kept,  by  the  will  of 
the  Lord,  in  stable." 

'  Well,  sir,"  said  Jordas,   with  his  brave,    soft  smile, 
"  the  smooth  and  thorough  of  it  comes  in  and  out,  accord- 


STORMY   GAP.  367 

in'.  Some  days  I  docs  next  to  naught  ;  and  some  days  I 
earns  my  keepin'.  Any  more  commands  for  me,  Lawyer 
Jellicoose  ?  Time  cometh  on  rather  late  for  starting. " 

"  Jordas,  you  amaze  me.  You  never  mean  to  say  that 
you  dream  of  setting  forth  again  on  such  a  night  as  this  is  ? 
I  will  find  you  a  bed  ;  you  shall  have  a  hot  supper.  What 
would  your  ladies  think  of  me  if  I  let  you  go  forth  among 
the  snow  again  ?  Just  look  at  the  window-panes  while  you 
and  I  were  talking  !  And  the  feathers  of  the  ice  shooting 
up  inside  as  long  as  the  last  sheaf  of  quills  I  opened  for 
them.  Quills,  quills,  quills,  all  day  !  And  when  I  bay  a 
goose  unplucked,  if  his  quills  are  any  good,  his  legs  won't 
carve,  and  his  gizzard  is  full  of  gravel -stones  !  Ah,  the 
world  grows  every  day  in  roguery  !" 

"  All  the  world  agrees  to  that,  sir  ;  ever  since  I  were  as 
high  as  your  table,  never  I  hear  two  opinions  about  it  ;  and 
it  maketh  a  man  seem  to  condemn  himself.  Good-night, 
sir,  and  I  hope  we  shall  have  good  news  so  soon  as  his 
Koyal  Majesty  the  king  affordeth  a  pony  as  can  lift  his  legs. ' ' 

Mr.  Jellicorsc  vainly  strove  to  keep  the  man  in  town  that 
night.  He  even  called  for  his  sensible  wife  and  his  excel- 
lent cook  to  argue,  having  no  clerk  left  to  make  scandal  of 
the  scene.  The  cook  had  a  turn  of  mind  for  Jordas,  and 
did  think  that  he  would  stop  for  her  sake  ;  and  she  took  a 
broom  to  show  him  what  the  depth  of  snow  was  upon  the 
red  tiles  between  the  brew-house  and  the  kitchen.  An 
icicle  hung  from  the  lip  of  the  pump,  and  new  snow  spar- 
kled on  the  cook's  white  cap,  and  the  dark  curly  hair  which 
she  managed  to  let  fall  ;  the  brew-house  smelled  nice,  and 
the  kitchen  still  nicer  ;  but  it  made  no  difference  to  Jordas. 
If  he  had  told  them  the  reason  of  this  hurry,  they  would 
have  said  hard  things  about  it,  perhaps  ;  Mrs.  Jcllicorse 
especially  (being  well  read  in  the  Scriptures,  and  fond  of 
quoting  them  against  all  people  who  had  grouse  and  sent 
her  none)  would  have  called  to  mind  what  David  said 
when  the  three  mighty  men  broke  through  the  host,  and 
brought  water  from  the  well  of  Bethlehem.  So  Jordas  only 
answered  that  he  had  promised  to  return,  and  a  trifle  of 
snow  improved  the  travelling. 

"  A  wilful  man  must  have  his  way,"  said  Mr.  Jcllicorse, 


368  MARY   AKERLEY. 

at  last.  "  We  cannot  put  him  in  the  pound,  Diana  ;  but 
the  least  we  can  do  is  to  provide  him  for  a  coarse,  cold  jour- 
ney. If  I  know  anything  of  our  country,  he  will  never  see 
Scargate  Hall  to-night,  but  his  blanket  will  be  a  snow-drift. 
Give  him  one  of  our  new  whitneys  to  go  behind  his  saddle, 
and  I  will  make  him  take  two  things.  I  am  your  legal  ad- 
viser, Jordas,  and  you  are  like  all  other  clients.  Upon  the 
main  issue,  you  cast  me  off  ;  but  in  small  matters  you  must 
obey  me." 

The  hardy  dogman  was  touched  with  this  unusual  care 
for  his  welfare.  At  home  his  services  were  accepted  as  a 
due,  requiring  little  praise  and  less  of  gratitude.  It  was  his 
place  to  do  this  and  that,  and  be  thankful  for  the  privilege. 
But  his  comfort  was  left  for  himself  to  study  ;  and  if  he 
had  studied  it  much,  reproach  would  soon  have  been  the 
chief  reward.  It  never  would  do,  as  his  ladies  said,  to 
make  too  much  of  Jordas.  He  would  give  himself  airs, 
and  think  that  people  could  not  get  on  without  him. 

Marmaduke  looked  fresh  and  bold  when  he  came  out  of 
stable  ;  he  had  eaten  with  pleasure  a  good  hot  dinner,  or 
supper,  perhaps,  he  considered  it,  liking  to  have  his  meals 
early,  as  horses  generally  do.  And  he  neighed  and  capered 
for  the  homeward  road,  though  he  knew  how  full  it  was  of 
hardships  ;  for  never  yet  looked  horse  through  bridle,  with- 
out at  least  one  eye  resilient  toward  the  charm  of  headstall. 
And  now  he  had  both  eyes  fixed  with  legitimate  aim  in  that 
direction  ;  and  what  were  a  few  tiny  atoms  of  snow  to  keep 
a  big  horse  from  his  household  ? 

Merrily,  therefore,  he  set  forth,  with  a  sturdy  rider  on  his 
back  ;  his  clear  neigh  rang  through  the  thick,  dull  streets, 
and  kind  people  came  to  their  white  blurred  windows,  and 
exclaimed,  as  they  glanced  at  the  party-colored  horseman 
rushing  away  into  the  dreary  depths,  "  Well,  rather  him 
than  me,  thank  God  !" 

44  You  keep  the  dog,"  Master  Jordas  had  said  to  the 
hostler,  before  he  left  the  yard  ;  "  he  is  like  a  lamb  when 
you  come  to  know  him.  I  can't  be  plagued  with  him  to- 
night. Here's  a  half-crown  for  his  victuals  ;  he  eats  pre- 
cious little  for  the  size  of  him.  A  bullock's  liver  every 
other  day,  and  a  pound  and  a  half  the  between  times. 


STORMY   GAP.  369 

Don't  be  af  eared  of  him.  He  looks  like  that,  to  jove  you, 
man. ' ' 

Instead  of  keeping  on  the  Durham  side  of  Tees,  as  he 
would  have  done  in  fair  weather  for  the  first  six  miles  or 
so,  Jordas  crossed  by  the  old  town  bridge  into  his  native 
county.  The  journey  would  be  longer  thus,  but  easier  in 
some  places,  and  the  track  more  plain  to  follow,  which  on 
a  snowy  night  was  everything.  For  all  things  now  were  in 
one  indiscriminate  pelt  and  whirl  of  white  ;  the  Tees  was 
striped  with  rustling  floes  among  the  black  moor-water,  and 
the  trees,  as  long  as  there  were  any,  bent  their  shrouded 
forms  and  moaned. 

But  with  laborious  plunges,  and  broad  scatterings  of  ob- 
struction, the  willing  horse  ploughed  out  his  way,  himself 
the  while  wrapped  up  in  white,  and  caked  in  all  his  tufty 
places  with  a  crust  that  flopped  up  and  down.  The  rider, 
himself  piled  up  with  snow,  and  bearded  with  a  berg  of  it, 
from  time  to  time,  with  his  numb  right  hand,  fumbled  at 
the  frozen  clouts  that  clogged  the  poor  horse's  mane  and 
crest. 

"  How  much  longer  will  a'  go,  I  wonder  ?"  said  Jordas 
to  himself  for  the  twentieth  time.  "  The  Lord  in  heaven 
knows  where  we  be  ;  but  horse  knows  better  than  the  Lord 
a' most.  Two  hour  it  must  be  since  ever  I  'tempted  to 
make  head  or  tail  of  it.  But  Marmadukeknoweth  when  a' 
hath  his  head  ;  these  creatures  is  wiser  than  Christians. 
Save  me  from  the  witches,  if  ever  I  see  such  weather  ! 
And  I  wish  that  Master  Lance's  oysters  wasn't  quite  so 
much  like  him." 

For,  broad  as  his  back  was,  perpetual  thump  of  rugged 
and  flintified  knobs  and  edges,  through  the  flag  basket 
strapped  over  his  neck,  was  beginning  to  tell  upon  his  stanch 
but  jolted  spine  ;  while  his  foot  in  the  northern  stirrup  was 
numbed,  and  threatening  to  get  frost-bitten. 

"  The  Lord  knoweth  where  we  be,"  he  said  once  more, 
growing  in  piety  as  the  peril  grew.  "  What  can  old  horse 
know,  without  the  Lord  hath  told  un  ?  And  likely  he  hath 
never  asked,  no  more  than  I  did.  We  mought  'a  come 
twelve  moiles,  or  we  mought  'a  come  no  more  than  six. 
Whatever  is  there  left  in  the  world  to  judge  by  ?  The  hills, 

24: 


370  MARY  ANERLEY. 

or  the  hollows,  or  the  bosldes,  all  is  one,  so  far  as  the 
power  of  a  man's  eyes  goes.  Howsomever,  drive  on,  old 
Dukie." 

Old  Dukie  drove  on  with  all  nis  might  and  main,  and 
the  stout  spirit  which  engenders  strength,  till  he  came  to  a 
white  wall  reared  before  him,  twice  as  high  as  his  snow- 
capped head,  and  swirling  like  a  billow  of  the  sea  with 
drift.  Here  he  stopped  short,  for  he  had  his  own  rein,  and 
turned  his  clouted  neck,  and  asked  his  master  what  to  make 
of  it. 

"  We  must  'a  come  at  last  to  Stormy  Gap  ;  it  might  be 
worse,  and  it  might  be  better.  Rocks  o'  both  sides  and  no 
way  round.  No  choice  but  to  get  through  it,  or  to  spend 
the  night  inside  of  it.  You  and  I  are  a  pretty  good 
weight,  old  Dukie.  We'll  even  try  a  charge  for  it,  afore 
we  knock  under.  We  can't  have  much  more  smother  than 
we've  gotten  already.  My  father  was  taken  like  this,  I've 
heard  tell,  in  the  service  of  old  Squire  Philip,  and  he 
put  his  nag  at  it,  and  scumbled  through.  But  first  vou  get 
up  your  wind,  old  chap."  < 

Marmaduke  seemed  to  know  what  was  expected  of  him, 
for  he  turned  round,  retreated  a  few  steps,  and  then  stood 
panting.  Then  Jordas  dismounted,  as  well  as  he  could, 
with  his  windward  leg  nearly  frozen.  He  smote  himself 
lustily,  with  both  arms  swinging,  upon  his  broad  breast, 
and  he  stamped  in  the  snow  till  he  felt  his  tingling  feet 
again.  Then  he  took  up  the  skirt  of  his  thick  heavy  coat, 
and  wiped  down  the  head,  mane,  and  shoulders  of  the 
horse,  and  the  great  pile  of  snow  upon  the  crupper.  "  Start 
clear  is  a  good  word,"  he  said. 

For  a  moment  he  stopped  to  consider  the  forlorn  hope 
of  his  last  resolution.  "  About  me  there  is  no  such  great 
matter,"  he  thought  ;  "  but  if  I  was  to  kill  Dukie,  who 
would  ever  hear  the  last  of  it  ?  And  what  a  good  horse  he 
have  been  to  be  sure  !  But  if  I  was  to  leave  him  so,  the 
crows  would  only  have  him.  We  be  both  in  one  boat  ;  we 
must  try  of  it."  He  said  a  little  prayer,  which  was  all  he 
knew,  for  himself  and  a  lass  he  had  a  liking  to,  who  lived 
in  a  mill  upon  the  river  Lime  ;  and  then  he  got  into  the 
saddle  again,  and  set  his  teeth  hard,  and  spoke  to  Marma- 


STORMY   GAP.  371 

duke,  'a  horse  who  would  never  be  touched  with  a  spur. 
"  Come  on,  old  chap,"  was  all  he  said. 

The  horse  looked  about  in  the  thick  of  the  night,  as  the 
head  of  the  horse  peers  out  of  the  cloak,  in  Welsh  mum- 
mery, at  Christmas-tide.  The  thick  of  the  night  was  light 
and  dark,  with  the  dense  intensity  of  down-pour  ;  light  in 
itself,  and  dark  with  shutting  out  all  sight  of  everything — 
a  close-at-hand  confusion,  and  a  distance  out  of  measure. 
The  horse,  with  his  wise  snow-crusted  eyes,  took  in  all  the 
winnowing  of  light  among  the  draff,  and  saw  no  possibility 
of  breaking  through,  but  resolved  to  spend  his  life  as  he 
was  ordered.  No  power  of  rush  or  of  dash  could  he 
gather,  because  of  the  sinking  of  his  feet  ;  the  main  chance 
was  of  bulk  and  weight,  and  his  rider  left  him  free  to 
choose.  For  a  few  steps  he  walked,  nimbly  picking  up  his 
feet,  and  then,  with  a  canter  of  the  best  spring  he  could 
compass,  hurled  himself  into  the  depth  of  the  drift,  while 
Jordas  lay  flat  along  his  neck,  and  let  him  plunge.  For  a 
few  yards  the  light  snow  flew  before  him,  like  froth  of  the 
sea  before  a  broad-bowed  ship,  and  smothered  as  he  was,  he 
fought  onward  for  his  life.  But  very  soon  the  power  of  his 
charge  was  gone,  his  limbs  could  not  rise,  and  his  breath 
was  taken  from  him  ;  the  hole  that  lie  had  made  was 
filled  up  behind  him  ;  fresh  volumes  from  the  shaken 
height  came  pouring  down  upon  him  ;  his  flanks  and  his 
back  were  wedged  fast  in  the  cumber,  and  he  stood  still  and 
trembled,  being  buried  alive. 

Jordas,  with  a  great  effort,  threw  himself  off,  and  put  his 
hat  before  his  mouth,  to  make  himself  a  breathing  space. 
He  scarcely  knew  whether  he  stood  or  lay  ;  but  he  kicked 
about  for  want  of  air,  and  the  more  he  kicked  the  worse  it 
was,  as  in  the  depth  of  nightmare.  Blindness,  choking, 
smothering,  and  freezing  fell  in  a  lump  upon  his  poor  body 
now,  and  the  shrieking  of  the  horse  and  the  panting  of  his 
struggles  came,  by  some  vibration,  to  him. 

But  just  as  he  began  to  lose  his  wits,  sink  away  back- 
ward, and  gasp  for  breath,  a  gleam  of  light  broke  upon  his 
closing  eyes  ;  he  gathered  the  remnant  of  his  strength, 
struck  for  it,  and  was  in  a  space  of  free  air.  After  several 
long  pants  he  looked  around,  and  found  that  a  thicket  of 


372  MARY   AHEKLEY. 

stub  oak  jutting  from  the  crag  of  the  gap  had  made  a  small 
alcove  with  billows  of  snow  piled  over  it.  Then  the  brave 
spirit  of  the  man  came  forth.  "  There  is  room  for  Dukie 
as  well  as  me,"  he  gasped.  "  With  God's  help  I  will  fetch 
him  in. " 

Weary  as  he  was,  he  cast  himself  back  into  the  wall  of 
snow,  and  listened.  At  first  he  heard  nothing,  and  made 
sure  that  all  was  over  ;  but  presently  a  faint,  soft  gurgle,  like 
a  dying  sob,  came  through  the  murk.  With  all  his  might 
he  dashed  toward  the  sound,  and  laid  hold  of  a  hairy  chin 
just  foundering.  "  Rise  up,  old  chap,"  he  tried  to  shout, 
and  he  gave  the  horse  a  breath  or  two  with  the  broad-brim- 
med hat  above  his  nose.  Then  Marmaduke  rallied  for  one 
last  fight,  with  the  surety  of  a  man  to  help  him.  He  stag- 
gered forward  to  the  leading  of  the  hand  he  knew  so  well, 
and  fell  down  upon  his  knees  ;  but  his  head  was  clear,  and 
he  drew  long  breaths,  and  his  heart  was  glad,  and  his  eyes 
looked  up,  and  he  gave  a  feeble  whinny. 


CHAPTER  XLL 

BAT     OF     THE     GILL. 

UPON  that  same  evening  the  cottage  in  the  gill  was  well 
snowed  up,  as  befell  it  every  winter,  more  or  less  hand- 
somely, according  to  the  wind.  The  wind  was  in  the  right 
way  to  do  it  truly  now,  with  just  enought  draugh  to  pile 
bountiful  wreaths,  and  not  enough  of  wild  blast  to  scatter 
them  again.  "  Bat  of  the  Gill,"  as  Mr.  Bart  was  called, 
sat  by  the  fire,  with  his  wife  and  daughter,  and  listened 
very  calmly  to  the  whistle  of  the  wind,  and  the  sliding  of 
the  soft  fall  that  blocked  his  window-panes. 

Insie  was  reading,  Mrs.  Bart  was  knitting  stockings,  and 
Mr.  Bart  was  thinking  of  his  own  strange  life.  It  never 
once  occurred  to  him  that  great  part  of  its  strangeness 
sprang  from  the  oddities  of  his  own  nature,  any  more  than 
a  man  who  has  been  in  a  quarrel  believes  that  he  could  have 
kept  out  of  it.  "  Matters  beyond  my  own  control  have 


BAT   OF  THE   GILL.  373 

forced  me  to  do  this  and  that,"  is  the  sure  belief  of  every 
man  whose  life  has  run  counter  to  his  fellows,  through  his 
own  inborn  diversity.  In  this  man's  nature  were  two 
strange  points,  sure  (if  they  are  strong  enough  to  survive  ex- 
perience) to  drive  anybody  into  strange  ways  :  he  did  not 
care  for  money,  and  he  contemned  rank. 

How  these  two  horrible  twists  got  into  his  early  composi- 
tion is  more  than  can  be  told,  and  in  truth  it  does  not  mat- 
ter. But  being  quite  incurable,  and  meeting  with  no  sym- 
pathy, except  among  people  who  aspired  to  them  only,  and 
failed — if  they  ever  got  the  chance  of  failing — these  dep- 
ravations from  the  standard  of  mankind  drove  Christopher 
Bart  from  the  beaten  tracks  of  life.  Providence  offered 
him  several  occasions  of  return  into  the  ordinary  course  ; 
for  after  he  had  cast  abroad  a  very  nice  inheritance,  other 
two  fortunes  fell  to  him,  but  found  him  as  difficult  as  ever 
to  stay  with.  Not  that  he  was  lavish  upon  luxury  of  his 
own,  for  no  man  could  have  simpler  tastes,  but  that  he 
weakly  believed  in  the  duty  of  benevolence,  and  the  charms 
of  gratitude.  Of  the  latter,  it  is  needless  to  say  that  he 
got  none,  while  with  the  former  he  produced  some  harm. 
When  all  his  bread  was  cast  upon  the  waters,  he  set  out  to 
earn  his  own  crust  as  best  he  might. 

Hence  came  a  chapter  of  accidents,  and  a  volume  of 
motley  incidents  in  various  climes,  and  upon  far  seas. 
Being  a  very  strong,  active  man,  with  gift  of  versatile  hand 
and  brain,  and  early  acquaintance  with  handicrafts,  Christo- 
pher Bart  could  earn  his  keep,  and  make  in  a  year  almost  as 
much  as  he  used  to  give  away,  or  lend  without  redemption, 
in  a  general  day  of  his  wealthy  time.  Hard  labor  tried  to 
make  him  sour,  but  did  not  succeed  therein. 

Yet  one  thing  in  all  this  experience  vexed  him  more  than 
any  hardship — to  wit,  that  he  never  could  win  true  fellow- 
ship among  his  new  fellows  in  the  guild  of  labor.  Some 
were  rather  surly,  others  very  pleasant  (from  a  warm  belief 
that  he  must  yet  come  into  money)  ;  but  whatsomever  or 
whosoever  they  were,  or  of  whatever  land,  they  all  agreed 
that  Christopher  Bart  was  not  of  their  communion.  Man- 
ners, appearance,  education,  freedom  from  prejudice,  and 
other  wide  diversities  marked  him  as  an  interloper,  and  per- 


374  MARY   AKEELEY. 

haps  a  spy,  among  the  enlightened  working-men  of  the  pe- 
riod. Over  and  over  again  he  strove  to  break  down  this  bar- 
rier ;  but  thrice  as  hard  he  might  have  striven,  and  found 
it  still  too  strong  for  him.  This  and  another  circumstance 
at  last  impressed  him  with  the  superior  value  of  his  own  so- 
ciety. Much  as  he  loved  the  working-man — in  spite  of  all 
experience  of  him — that  worthy  fellow  would  not  have  it, 
but  felt  a  truly  and  piously  hereditary  scorn  for  "  a  gentle- 
man as  took  a  order,  when,  but  for  being  a  blessed  fool, 
he  might  have  stood  there  giving  it. ' ' 

The  other  thing  that  helped  to  drive  him  from  this  very 
dense  array  was  his  own  romantic  marriage,  and  the  copious 
birth  of  children.  After  the  sensitive  age  was  past,  and 
when  the  sensibles  ought  to  reign — for  then  he  was  past 
five-and-thirty — he  fell  (for  the  first  time  of  his  life)  into  a 
violent  passion  of  love  for  a  beautiful  Jewish  maid  barely 
turned  seventeen.  Zilpah  admired  him,  for  he  was  of  noble 
aspect,  rich  with  variety  of  thoughts  and  deeds.  With 
women  he  had  that  peculiar  power  which  men  of  strong 
character  possess  ;  his  voice  was  like  music,  and  his  words 
as  good  as  poetry,  and  he  scarcely  ever  seemed  to  contra- 
dict himself.  Very  soon  Zilpah  adored  him  ;  and  then 
he  gave  notice  to  her  parents  that  she  was  to  be  his  wife. 
These  stared  considerably,  being  wealthy  people,  of  high 
Jewish  blood  (and  thus  the  oldest  of  the  old),  and  steadfast 
m0st — where  all  are  steadfast — to  their  own  race  of  re- 
ligion. Finding  their  astonishment  received  serenely,  they 
locked  up  their  daughter,  with  some  strong  expressions  ; 
which  they  redoubled  when  they  found  the  door  wide  open 
in  the  morning.  Zilpah  was  gone,  and  they  scratched  out 
her  name  from  the  surface  of  their  memories. 

Christopher  Bart,  being  lawfully  married — for  the  local 
restrictions  scorned  the  case  of  a  foreigner  and  a  Jewess — 
crossed  the  Polish  frontier  with  his  mules  and  tools,  and 
drove  his  little  covered  cart  through  Austria.  And  here  he 
lit  upon,  and  helped  in  some  predicament  of  the  road,  a  spir- 
ited young  Englishman  undergoing  the  miseries  of  the 
grand  tour,  the  son  and  heir  of  Philip  Yordas.  Duncan 
was  large  and  crooked  of  thought — as  every  true  Yordas 
must  be — and  finding  a  mind  in  advance  of  his  own  by  sev- 


BAT   OF  THE   GILL.  375 

eral  years  of  such  sally  ings,  and  not  yet  even  swerving  toward 
the  turning  goal  of  corpulence,  the  young  man  perceived 
that  he  had  hit  upon  a  prophet. 

For  Bart  scarcely  ever  talked  at  all  of  his  generous  ideas. 
A  prophet's  proper  mantle  is  the  long  cloak  of  Harpocrates, 
and  his  best  vaticinations  are  inspired  more  than  uttered. 
So  it  came  about  that  Duncan  Yordas,  difficult  as  he  was 
to  lead,  largely  shared  the  devious  courses  of  Christopher 
Bart  the  workman,  and  these  few  months  of  friendship 
made  a  lasting  mark  upon  the  younger  man. 

Soon  after  this  a  heavy  blow  befell  the  ingenious  wan- 
derer. Among  his  many  arts  and  trades,  he  had  some 
knowledge  of  engineering,  or  at  any  rate  much  boldness  of 
it,  which  led  him  to  conceive  a  brave  idea  concerning  some 
tributary  of  the  Po.  The  idea  was  sound  and  fine,  and 
might  have  led  to  many  blessings  ;  but  Nature,  enjoying 
her  bad  work  best,  recoiled  upon  her  improver.  He  left 
an  oozy  channel  drying  (like  a  glanderous  sponge)  in  Au- 
gust, and  virulent  fever  came  into  his  tent.  All  of  his  eight 
children  died  except  his  youngest  son  Maunder  ;  his  own 
strong  frame  was  shaken  sadly  ;  and  his  loving  wife  lost  all 
her  strength  and  buxom  beauty.  He  gathered  the  rem- 
nants of  his  race,  and  stricken  but  still  unconquered,  took 
his  way  to  a  long-forgotten  land.  4 '  The  residue  of  us 
must  go  home,"  he  said,  after  all  his  wanderings. 

In  London,  of  course,  he  was  utterly  forgotten,  although 
he  had  spent  much  substance  there,  in  the  days  of  sanguine 
charity.  Durham  was  his  native  county,  where  he  might 
have  been  a  leading  man,  if  more  like  other  men.  "  Cos- 
mopolitan "  as  he  was,  and  strong  in  his  own  opinions 
still,  the  force  of  years,  and  sorrow,  and  long  striving,  told 
upon  him.  He  had  felt  a  longing  to  mend  the  kettles  of 
the  house  that  once  was  his  ;  but  when  he  came  to  the 
brink  of  Tees  his  stout  heart  failed,  and  he  could  not  cross. 

Instead  of  that  he  turned  away,  to  look  for  his  old  friend 
Yordas  ;  not  to  be  patronized  by  him — for  patronage  he 
would  have  none — but  from  hankering  after  a  congenial 
mind,  and  to  touch  upon  kind  memories.  Yordas  was 
gone,  as  pure  an  outcast  as  himself,  and  his  name  almost 
forbidden  there.  He  thought  it  a  part  of  the  general 


376  MAEY  AKERLEY. 

wrong,  and  wandered  about  to  see  the  land,  with  his  eyes 
wide  open  as  usual. 

There  was  nothing  very  beautiful  in  the  land,  and  nothing 
at  all  attractive,  except  that  it  commanded  length  of  view, 
and  was  noble  in  its  rugged  strength.  This,  however, 
pleased  him  well,  and  here  he  resolved  to  set  up  his  staff, 
if  means  could  be  found  to  make  it  grow.  From  the 
higher  fells  he  could  behold — whenever  the  weather  encour- 
aged him — the  dromedary  humps  of  certain  hills,  at  the 
tail  whereof  he  had  been  at  school — a  charming  mist  of  ret- 
rospect. And  he  felt,  though  it  might  have  been  hard  to 
make  him  own  it,  a  deeply-seated  joy  that  here  he  should 
be  long  lengths  out  of  reach  of  the  most  highly  illuminated 
working-man.  This  was  an  inconsistent  thing,  but  consis- 
tent forever  in  coming  to  pass. 

Where  the  will  is,  there  the  way  is,  if  the  will  be  only 
wise.  Bart  found  out  a  way  of  living  in  this  howling  wil- 
derness, as  his  poor  wife  would  have  called  it,  if  she  had 
been  a  bad  wife.  Unskilful  as  he  had  shown  himself  in 
the  matter  of  silver  and  gold,  he  had  won  great  skill  in  the 
useful  metals,  especially  in  steel — the  type  of  truth.  And 
here  in  a  break  of  rock  he  discovered  a  slender  vein  of  a  slate- 
gray  mineral,  distinct  from  cobalt,  but  not  unlike  it,  such 
as  he  had  found  in  the  Carpathian  Mountains,  and  which  in 
metallurgy  had  no  name  yet,  for  its  value  was  known  to 
very  few.  But  a  legend  of  the  spot  declared  that  the  ancient 
cutlers  of  Bilbao  owed  much  of  their  fame  to  the  use  of 
this  mineral  in  the  careful  process  of  conversion. 

"  I  can  make  a  living  out  of  it,  and  that  is  all  I  want," 
said  Bart,  who  was  moderately  sanguine  still.  "  I  know  a 
manufacturer  who  has  faith  in  me,  and  is  doing  all  he  can 
against  the  supremacy  of  Sheffield.  If  I  can  make  arrange- 
ments with  him,  we  will  settle  here,  and  keep  to  our  own 
affairs  for  the  future." 

He  built  him  a  cottage  in  lonely  snugness,  far  in  the 
waste,  and  outside  even  of  the  range  of  title-deeds,  though 
he  paid  a  small  rent  to  the  manor,  to  save  trouble,  and  to 
satisfy  his  conscience  of  the  mineral  deposit.  By  right  of 
discovery,  lease,  and  user,  this  became  entirely  his,  as 
nobody  else  had  ever  heard  of  it.  So  by  the  fine  irony  of 


BAT   OF  THE   GILL.  377 

facts  it  came  to  pass,  first,  that  the  squanderer  of  three  for- 
tunes united  his  lot  with  a  Jewess  ;  next,  that  a  great  "  cos- 
mopolitan" hugged  a  strict  corner  of  jealous  monopoly  ; 
and  again,  that  a  champion  of  communism  insisted  upon  his 
exclusive  right  to  other  people's  property.  However,  for 
all  that,  it  might  not  be  easy  to  find  a  more  consistent  man. 

Here  Maunder,  the  surviving  son,  grew  up,  and  Insie, 
their  last  child,  was  born  ;  and  the  land  enjoyed  peace  for 
twenty  years,  because  it  was  of  little  value.  A  man  who 
had  been  about  the  world  so  loosely  must  have  found  it  hard 
to  be  boxed  up  here,  except  for  the  lowering  of  strength 
and  pride  by  sorrow  of  affection,  and  sore  bodily  affliction. 
But  the  air  of  the  moorland  is  good  for  such  troubles. 
Bart  possessed  a  happy  nature  ;  and  perhaps  it  was  well 
that  his  children  could  say,  "  We  are  nine,  but  only  two 
to  feed." 

It  must  have  been  the  whistling  wind,  a  long  memorial 
sound,  which  sent  him,  upon  this  snowy  December  night, 
back  among  the  echoes  of  the  past  ;  for  he  always  had 
plenty  of  work  to  do,  even  in  the  winter  evenings,  and  was 
not  at  all  given  to  folded  arms.  And  before  he  was  tired 
of  his  short  warm  rest,  his  wife  asked,  "  Where  is  Maun- 
der?'7 

"  I  left  him  doing  his  work,"  he  replied  ;  "  he  had  a 
great  heap  still  to  clear.  He  understands  his  work  right 
well.  He  will  not  go  to  bed  till  he  has  done  it.  We  must 
not  be  quite  snowed  up,  my  dear." 

Mrs.  Bart  shook  her  head  ;  having  lost  so  many  chil- 
dren, she  was  anxious  about  the  rest  of  them.  But  before 
she  could  speak  again,  a  heavy  leap  against  the  door  was 
heard  ;  the  strong  latch  rattled,  and  the  timbers  creaked. 
Insie  jumped  up  to  see  what  it  meant,  but  her  father  stop- 
ped her,  and  went  himself.  When  he  opened  the  door  a 
whirl  of  snow  flew  in,  and  through  the  glitter  and  the  flutter 
a  great  dog  came  reeling,  and  rolled  upon  the  floor,  a  mighty 
lump  of  bristled  whiteness.  Mrs.  Bart  was  terrified,  for 
she  thought  it  was  a  wolf,  not  having  found  it  in  her  power 
to  believe  that  there  could  be  such  a  desert  place  without 
wolves  in  the  winter-time. 

"  Why,  Saracen  !"  said  Insie  ;  "  I  declare  it  is  !     You 


378  MAKY   AKERLEY. 

poor  old  dog  !  what  can  have  brought  you  out  this 
weather?" 

Both  her  parents  were  surprised  to  see  her  sit  down  on 
the  floor  and  throw  her  arms  around  the  neck  of  this  self- 
invited  and  very  uncouth  visitor.  For  the  girl  forgot  all 
of  her  trumpery  concealments  in  the  warmth  of  her  feel- 
ing for  a  poor  lost  dog. 

Saracen  looked  at  her,  with  a  view  to  dignity.  lie  had 
only  seen  her  once  before,  when  Pet  brought  him  down 
(both  for  company  and  safeguard),  and  he  was  not  a  dog 
which  would  dream  of  recognizing  a  person  to  whom  he 
had  been  rashly  introduced.  And  he  knew  that  he  was  in 
a  mighty  difficulty  now,  which  made  self-respect  all  the 
more  imperative.  However,  on  the  whole,  he  had  been 
pleased  with  Insie  at  their  first  interview,  and  had  patron- 
ized her — for  she  had  an  honest  fragrance,  and  a  little  taste 
of  salt — and  now  with  a  side  look  he  let  her  know  that  he 
did  not  wish  to  hurt  her  feelings,  although  his  business  was 
not  with  her.  But  if  she  wanted  to  give  him  some  refresh- 
ment, she  might  do  so,  while  he  was  considering. 

The  fact  was,  though  he  could  not  tell  it,  and  would  scorn 
to  do  so  if  he  could,  that  he  had  not  had  one  bit  to  eat  for 
more  hours  than  he  could  reckon.  That  wicked  hostler  at 
Middleton  had  taken  his  money  and  disbursed  it  upon 
beer,  adding  insult  to  injury  by  remarking,  in  the  hearing 
of  Saracen  (while  strictly  chained),  that  he  was  a  deal  too 
fat  already.  So  vile  a  sentiment  had  deepened  into  passion 
the  dog's  ever-dominant  love  of  home  ;  and  when  the  dark- 
ness closed  upon  him  in  an  unknown  hungry  hole,  without 
even  a  horse  for  company,  any  other  dog  would  have 
howled  ;  but  this  dog  stiffened  his  tail  with  self-respect. 
He  scraped  away  all  the  straw  to  make  a  clear  area  for  his 
experiment,  and  then  he  stood  up  like  a  pillar,  or  a  fine 
kangaroo,  and  made  trial  of  his  weight  against  the  chain. 
Feeling  something  give,  or  show  propensity  toward  giving, 
he  said  to  himself  that  here  was  one  more  triumph  for  him 
over  the  presumptuous  intellect  of  man.  The  chain  might 
be  strong  enough  to  hold  a  ship,  and  the  great  leathern 
collar  to  secure  a  bull  ;  but  the  fastening  of  chain  to  collar 
was  unsound,  by  reason  of  the  rusting  of  a  rivet. 


BAT   OF  THE   GILL.  379 

Retiring  to  the  manger  for  a  better  length  of  rush,  he 
backed  against  the  wall  for  a  fulcrum  to  his  spring,  while 
the  roll  of  his  chest  and  the  breadth  of  his  loins  quivered 
with  tight  muscle.  Then  off  like  the  charge  of  a  cannon 
he  dashed,  the  loop  of  the  collar  flew  out  of  the  rivet,  and  the 
chain  fell  clanking  on  the  paving-bricks.  With  grim  satis- 
faction the  dog  set  off  in  the  track  of  the  horse  for  Scargate 
Hall.  And  now  he  sat  panting  in  the  cottage  of  the  gill, 
to  tell  his  discovery,  and  to  crave  for  help. 

"  Where  do  you  come  from,  and  what  do  you  want  ?" 
asked  Bart,  as  the  dog,  soon  beginning  to  recover,  looked 
round  at  the  door,  and  then  back  again  at  him,  and  jerked 
up  his  chin  impatiently.  "  Insie,  you  seem  to  know  this 
fine  fellow.  Where  have  you  met  him  ?  And  whose  dog 
is  he  ?  Saracen  !  Why,  that  is  the  name  of  the  dog 
which  is  everybody's  terror  at  Scargate. " 

"  I  gave  him  some  water  one  day, "  said  Insie,  "  when 
he  was  terribly  thirsty.  But  he  seems  to  know  you, 
father,  better  than  me.  He  wants  you  to  do  something,  and 
he  scorns  me." 

For  Saracen,  failing  of  articulate  speech,  was  uttering  vol- 
umes of  entreaty  with  his  eyes,  which  were  large,  and 
brown,  and  full  of  clear  expression  under  eyebrows  of  rich 
tan  ;  and  then  he  ran  to  the  door,  put  up  ofle  heavy  paw 
and  shook  it,  and  ran  back,  and  pushed  the  master  with  his 
nozzle,  and  then  threw  back  his  great  head  and  long  velvet 
ears,  and  opening  his  enormous  jaws,  gave  vent  to  a  mighty 
howl  which  shook  the  roof. 

"  Oh,  put  him  out,  put  him  out  !  open  the  door  !"  ex- 
claimed Mrs.  Bart,  in  fresh  terror.  "  If  he  is  not  a  wolf  he 
is  a  great  deal  worse." 

"  His  master  is  out  in  the  snow,"  cried  Bart  ;  "  perhaps 
buried  in  the  snow,  and  he  is  come  to  tell  us.  Give  me  my 
hat,  child,  and  my  thick  coat.  See  how  delighted  he  is, 
poor  fellow  !  Oh,  here  comes  Maunder  !  Now  lead  the 
way,  my  friend.  Maunder,  go  and  fetch  the  other  shovel. 
There  is  somebody  lost  in  the  snow,  I  believe.  We  must 
follow  this  dog  immediately." 

"  Not  till  you  both  have  had  much  plenty  food,"  the 
mother  said  ;  "  out  upon  the  moors,  this  bad,  bad  night, 


380  MAKY   ASTERLEY. 

and  for  leagues  possibly  to  travel.  My  son  and  my  hus- 
band are  much  too  good.  You  bad  dog,  why  did  you 
come,  pestilent  ?  But  you  shall  have  food  also.  Insie, 
provide  him.  While  I  make  to  eat  your  father  and  your 
brother. " 

Saracen  would  hardly  wait,  starving  as  he  was  ;  but  see- 
ing the  men  prepared  to  start,  he  made  the  best  of  it,  and 
cleared  out  a  colander  of  victuals  in  a  minute. 

li  Put  up  what  is  needful  for  a  starving  traveller, "  Mr. 
Bart  said  to  the  ladies.  "  We  shall  want  no  lantern,  the 
snow  gives  light  enough,  and  the  moon  will  soon  be  up. 
Keep  a  kettle  boiling,  and  some  warm  clothes  ready.  Per- 
haps we  shall  be  hours  away  ;  but  have  no  fear.  Maunder 
is  the  boy  for  snow-drifts. ' ' 

The  young  man  being  of  a  dark  and  silent  nature,  quite 
unlike  his  father's,  made  no  reply,  nor  even  deigned  to  give 
a  smile,  but  seemed  to  be  wonderfully  taken  with  the  dog, 
which  in  many  ways  resembled  him.  Then  he  cast  both 
shovels  on  his  shoulder  at  the  door,  and  strode  forth,  and 
stamped  upon  the  path  that  he  had  cleared.  His  father 
took  a  stout  stick,  the  dog  leaped  past  them,  and  led  them 
out  at  once  upon  the  open  moor. 

*  *  We  are  in  for  a  night  of  it, ' '  said  Mr.  Bart,  and  his  son 
did  not  contrt-dict  him. 

"  The  dog  goes  first,  then  I,  then  you,"  he  said  to  his 
father,  with  his  deep,  slow  tone.  And  the  elderly  man, 
whose  chief  puzzle  in  life — since  he  had  given  up  the  prob- 
lem of  the  world — was  the  nature  of  his  only  son,  now 
wondered  again,  as  he  seldom  ceased  from  wondering, 
whether  this  boy  despised  or  loved  him.  The  young  fellow 
always  took  the  very  greatest  care  of  his  father,  as  if  he 
were  a  child  to  be  protected,  and  he  never  showed  the  small- 
est sign  of  disrespect.  Yet  Maunder  was  not  the  true  son 
of  his  father,  but  of  some  ancestor,  whose  pride  sprang  out 
of  dust  at  the  outrageous  idea  of  a  kettle-mending  Bart, 
and  embodied  itself  in  this  Maunder. 

The  large-minded  father  never  dreamed  of  such  a  trifle, 
but  felt  in  such  weather,  with  the  snow  above  his  leggings, 
that  sometimes  it  is  good  to  have  a  large-bodied  son. 


A   CLEW    OF   BUTTONS.  381 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

A     CLEW     OF     BUTTONS. 

WHEN  Jack  o'  the  Smithies  met  his  old  commander,  as 
related  by  himself  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Mordacks,  everything 
seemed  to  be  going  on  well  for  Sir  Duncan,  and  badly  for 
his  sisters.  The  general  factor,  as  he  hinted  long  ago,  pos- 
sessed certain  knowledge,  which  the  Middleton  lawyer 
fondly  supposed  to  be  confined  to  himself  and  his  fair 
clients.  Sir  Duncan  refused  to  believe  that  the  ladies  could 
ever  have  heard  of  such  a  document  as  that  which,  if  valid, 
would  simply  expel  them  ;  for,  said  he,  "  If  they  know  of 
it,  they  are  nothing  less  than  thieves  to  conceal  it  and  con- 
tinue in  possession.  Of  a  lawyer  I  could  fancy  it,  but 
never  of  a  lady. ' ' 

"  My  good  sir,"  answered  the  sarcastic  Mordacks,  "  a 
lady's  conscience  is  not  the  same  as  a  gentleman's,  but  bears 
more  resemblance  to  a  lawyer's.  A  lady's  honor  is  of  the 
very  highest  standard  ;  but  the  standard  depends  upon  her 
state  of  raind  ;  and  that,  again,  depends  upon  the  condi- 
tion of  her  feelings.  You  must  not  suppose  me  to  admit 
the  faintest  shadow  of  disrespect  toward  your  good  sisters  ; 
but  ladies  are  ladies,  and  facts  are  facts  ;  and  the  former 
can  always  surmount  the  latter  ;  while  a  man  is  compara- 
tively helpless.  I  know  that  Mr.  Jellicorse,  their  man  of 
law,  is  thoroughly  acquainted  with  this  interesting  deed. 
His  first  duty  was  to  apprise  them  of  it  ;  and  that,  you 
may  be  quite  sure,  he  has  done." 

"  I  hope  not.  I  am  sure  not.  A  lawyer  does  not  always 
employ  hot  haste  in  an  unwelcome  duty." 

"  True  enough,  Sir  Duncan.  But  the  duty  here  was  wel- 
come. Their  knowledge  of  that  deed,  and  of  his  possession 
of  it,  would  make  him  their  master,  if  he  chose  to  be  so. 
Not  that  old  Jellicorse  would  think  of  such  a  thing.  He  is 
a  man  of  high  principle  like  myself,  of  a  lofty  conscience, 
and  even  sentimental.  But  lawyers  are  just  like  the  rest  of 
mankind.  Their  first  consideration  is  their  bread  and 
cheese  ;  though  some  of  them  certainly  seem  ready  to 
accept  it  even  in  the  toasted  f orm. ' ' 


382  MARY   AKEKLEY. 

"  You  may  say  what  you  like,  Mordacks,  my  sister 
Philippa  is  far  too  upright,  and  Eliza  too  good,  for  any  such 
thing  to  be  possible.  However,  that  question  may  abide. 
I  shall  not  move  until  I  have  some  one  to  do  it  for.  I  have 
no  great  affection  for  a  home  which  cast  me  forth,  whether 
it  had  a  right  to  do  so  or  not.  But  if  we  succeed  in  the 
more  important  matter,  it  will  be  my  duty  to  recover  the 
estates,  for  the  benefit  of  another.  You  are  sure  of  your 
proofs  that  it  is  the  boy  ?" 

"  As  certain  as  need  be.  And  we  will  make  it  surer 
when  you  meet  me  there  the  week  after  next.  For  the 
reasons  I  have  mentioned,  we  must  wait  till  then.  Your 
yacht  is  at  Yarmouth.  You  have  followed  my  advice  in 
approaching  by  sea,  and  not  by  land,  and  in  hiring  at  Yar- 
mouth for  the  purpose.  But  you  never  should  have  come 
to  York,  Sir  Duncan  ;  this  is  a  very  great  mistake  of  yours. 
They  are  almost  sure  to  hear  of  it.  And  even  your  name 
given  in  our  best  inn  !  But  luckily  they  never  see  a  news- 
paper  atScargate." 

"  I  follow  the  tactics  with  which  you  succeed — all  above- 
board,  and  no  stratagems.  Your  own  letter  brought  me  ; 
but  perhaps  I  am  too  old  to  be  so  impatient.  Where  shall 
I  meet  you,  and  on  what  day  ?" 

"  This  day  fortnight,  at  the  Thorn  wick  Inn,  I  shall  hope 
to  be  with  you  at  three  o'clock,  and  perhaps  bring  some- 
body with  me.  If  I  fixed  an  earlier  day,  I  should  only  dis- 
appoint you.  For  many  things  have  to  be  delicately  man- 
aged ;  and  among  them,  the  running  of  a  certain  cargo, 
without  serious  consequence.  For  that  we  may  trust  a  cer- 
tain very  skilful  youth.  For  the  rest  you  must  trust  to  a 
clumsier  person,  your  humble  land-agent  and  surveyor — 
titles  inquired  into  and  verified,  at  a  tenth  of  solicitors' 
charges. ' ' 

"  Well,"  said  Sir  Duncan,  "  you  shall  verify  mine,  as 
soon  as  you  have  verified  my  son,  and  my  title  to  him. 
Good-by,  Mordacks.  I  am  sure  you  mean  me  well,  but 
you  seem  to  be  very  long  about  it. ' ' 

"  Hot  climates  breed  impatience,  sir.  A  true  son  of 
Yorkshire  is  never  in  a  hurry.  The  general  complaint  of 
me  is  concerning  my  wild  rapidity." 


A   CLEW   OF   BUTTONS.  383 

"  You  are  like  the  grocer,  whose  goods,  if  they  have  any 
fault  at  all,  have  the  opposite  one  to  what  the  customer 
finds  in  them.  Well,  good-by,  Mordacks.  You  are  a 
trusty  friend,  and  I  thank  you. ' ' 

These  words  from  Sir  Duncan  Yordas  were  not  merely 
of  commonplace.  For  he  was  a  man  of  great  self-reliance, 
quick  conclusion,  and  strong  resolve.  These  had  served 
him  well  in  India,  and  insured  his  fortune  ;  while  early 
adversity  and  bitter  losses  had  tempered  the  arrogance  of 
his  race.  After  the  loss  of  his  wife  and  child,  and  the 
breach  with  all  his  relatives,  he  had  led  a  life  of  peril  and 
hard  labor,  varied  with  few  pleasures.  When  first  he 
learned  from  Edinburgh  that  the  ship  conveying  his  only 
child  to  the  care  of  the  mother's  relatives  was  lost,  with  all 
on  board,  he  did  all  in  his  power  to  make  inquiries.  But 
the  illness  and  death  of  his  wife,  to  whom  he  was  deeply 
attached,  overwhelmed  him.  For,  while  with  some  people 
"  one  blow  drives  out  another, "  with  some  the  second 
serves  only  to  drive  home,  deepen,  and  aggravate  the  first. 
For  years  he  was  satisfied  to  believe  both  losses  irretrieva- 
ble. And  so  he  might  still  have  gone  on  believing,  except 
for  a  queer  little  accident. 

Being  called  to  Calcutta  upon  government  business,  he 
happened  to  see  a  pair  of  English  sailors  lazily  playing  in  a 
shady  place  by  the  side  of  the  road  at  hole-penny.  One  of 
them  seemed  to  have  his  pocket  cleared  out,  for  just  as  Sir 
Duncan  was  passing,  he  cried,  4t  Here,  Jack,  you  give  me 
change  of  one  of  them,  and  I'll  have  at  you  again,  my  boy. 
As  good  as  a  guinea  with  these  blessed  niggers.  Come 
back  to  their  home,  I  b'licve  they  are,  same  as  I  wish  I 
was  ;  rale  gold — ask  this  gen'leman." 

The  other  swore  that  they  were  '*  naught  but  brass,  and 
not  worth  a  copper  farden  ;"  until  the  tars,  being  too  tipsy 
for  much  fighting,  referred  the  question  to  Sir  Duncan. 

Three  hollow  beads  of  gold  were  what  they  showed  him, 
and  he  knew  them  at  once  for  his  little  boy's  buttons,  the 
workmanship  being  peculiar  to  one  village  of  his  district, 
and  one  family  thereof.  The  sailor  would  thankfully  have 
taken  one  rupee  apiece  for  them  ;  but  Sir  Duncan  gave  him 
thirty  for  the  three — their  full  metallic  value — upon  his 


384  MARY  ANERLEY. 

pledging  honor  to  tell  all  he  knew  about  them,  and  make 
affidavit,  if  required.  Then  he  told  all  he  knew,  to  the 
best  of  his  knowledge,  and  swore  to  it  when  sober,  accepted 
a  refresher,  and  made  oath  to  it  again,  with  some  lively 
particulars  added.  And  the  facts  that  he  deposed  to,  and 
deposited,  were  these  : 

Being  down  upon  his  luck,  about  a  twelvemonth  back, 
he  thought  of  keeping  company  with  a  nice  young 
woman,  and  settling  down  until  a  better  time  turned 
up  ;  and  happening  to  get  a  month's  wages  from  a 
schooner  of  ninety-five  tons  at  Scarborough,  he  strolled 
about  the  street  a  bit,  and  kept  looking  down  the  rail- 
ings for  a  servant-girl  who  might  have  got  her  wages 
in  her  work-box.  Clean  he  was,  and  taut,  and  clever,  beat- 
ing up  street  in  Sunday  rig,  keeping  sharp  lookout  for-  a 
consort,  and  in  three  or  four  tacks  he  hailed  one.  As  nice 
a  young  partner  as  a  lad  could  want,  and  his  meaning  was 
to  buckle  to  for  the  winter.  But  the  night  before  the 
splicing-day,  what  happened  to  him  he  never  could  tell 
after.  He  was  bousing  up  his  jib,  as  a  lad  is  bound  to  do, 
before  he  takes  the  breakers.  And  when  he  came  to,  he 
was  twenty  leagues  from  Scarborough,  on  board  of  his 
Majesty's  recruiting  brig  the  Harpy.  He  felt  in  his  pocket 
for  the  wedding-ring,  and  instead  of  that,  there  were  these 
three  beads  ! 

Sir  Duncan  was  sorry  for  his  sad  disaster,  and  gave  him 
ten  more  rupees  to  get  over  it.  And  then  he  discovered 
that  the  poor  forsaken  maiden's  name  was  Sally  Watkins. 
Sally  was  the  daughter  of  a  rich  pawnbroker,  whose  frame 
of  mind  was  sometimes  out  of  keeping  with  its  true  con- 
tents. He  had  very  fine  feelings,  and  real  warmth  of  sym- 
pathy ;  but  circumstances  seemed  sometimes  to  lead  them 
into  the  wrong  channel,  and  induce  him  to  kick  his  children 
out  of  doors.  In  the  middle  of  the  family  he  kicked  out 
Sally,  almost  before  her  turn  was  come  ;  and  she  took  a 
place  at  four  pound  a  year,  to  disgrace  his  memory — as  she 
said — carrying  off  these  buttons,  and  the  jacket,  which  he 
had  bestowed  upon  her,  in  a  larger  interval. 

There  was  no  more  to  be  learned  than  this  from  the  inter- 
cepted bridegroom.  He  said  that  he  might  have  no  objec- 


A   CLEW  OF   BUTTONS.  385 

tion  to  go  on  with  his  love  again,  as  soon  as  the  war  was 
over,  leastways,  if  it  was  made  worth  his  while  ;  but  he  had 
come  across  another  girl,  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and 
he  believed  that  this  time  the  Lord  was  in  it,  for  she  had 
been  born  in  a  caul,  and  he  had  got  it.  With  such  a  dispensa- 
tion, Sir  Duncan  Yordas  saw  no  right  to  interfere,  but  left 
the  course  of  true  love  to  itself,  after  taking  down  the  sailor's 
name— "  Ned  Faithful. " 

However,  he  resolved  to  follow  out  the  clew  of  beads, 
though  without  much  hope  of  any  good  result.  Of  the 
three  in  his  possession  he  kept  one,  and  one  he  sent  to 
Edinburgh,  and  the  third  to  York,  having  heard  of  the  great 
sagacity,  vigor,  and  strict  integrity  of  Mr.  Mordacks,  all  of 
which  he  sharpened  by  the  promise  of  a  large  reward  upon 
discovery.  Then  he  went  back  to  his  wrork,  until  his  time 
of  leave  was  due,  after  twenty  years  of  arduous  and  distin- 
guished service.  In  troublous  times,  no  private  affairs, 
however  urgent,  should  drive  him  from  his  post. 

Now,  eager  as  he  was  when  in  England  once  again,  he 
was  true  to  his  character  and  the  discipline  of  life.  He  had 
proof  that  the  matter  was  in  very  good  hands,  and  long 
command  had  taught  him  the  necessity  of  obedience.  Any 
previous  Yordas  would  have  kicked  against  the  pricks, 
rushed  forward,  and  scattered  everything.  But  Sir  Duncan 
was  now  of  a  different  fibre.  He  left  York  at  once,  as 
Mordacks  advised,  and  posted  to  Yarmouth,  before  the 
roads  were  blocked  with  snow,  and  while  Jack  o'  the 
Smithies  was  returning  to  his  farm.  And  from  Yarmouth 
he  set  sail  for  Scarborough,  in  a  sturdy  little  coaster,  which 
he  hired  by  the  week.  From  Scarborough  he  would  run 
down  to  Bridlington — not  too  soon,  for  fear  of  setting  gos- 
sip going,  but  in  time  to  meet  Mordacks  at  Flamborough, 
as  agreed  upon. 

That  gentleman  had  other  business  in  hand,  which  must 
not  be  neglected  ;  but  he  gave  to  this  matter  a  very  large 
share  of  his  time,  and  paid  five-and-twonty  pounds  for  the 
trusty  roadster,  who  liked  the  taste  of  Flamborough  pond 
and  the  salt  air  on  the  oats  of  Widow  Tapsy's  stable,  and 
now  regularly  neighed  and  whisked  his  tail  as  soon  as  he 
found  himself  outside  Monk  Bar.  By  favor  of  this  horse 
25 


386  MARY   AKERLEY. 

and  of  liis  own  sword  and  pistols,  Mordacks  spent  nearly 
as  much  time  now  at  Flainborough  as  he  did  in  York  ;  but 
unluckily  he  had  been  obliged  to  leave  on  the  very  afternoon 
before  the  run  was  accomplished,  and  Carroway  slain  so 
wickedly  ;  for  he  hurried  home  to  meet  Sir  Duncan,  and 
had  not  heard  the  bad  news  when  he  met  him. 

That  horrible  murder  was  a  sad  blow  to  him,  not  only  as 
a  man  of  considerable  kindness  and  desire  to  think  well  of 
every  one — so  far  as  experience  allows  it — but  also  because 
of  the  sudden  apparition  of  the  law  rising  sternly  in  front 
of  him.  Justice  in  those  days  was  not  as  now  ;  her  truer 
name  was  Nemesis.  After  such  an  outrage  to  the  dignity 
of  the  realm,  an  example  must  be  made,  without  much  con- 
sideration whether  it  were  the  right  one.  If  Robin  Lyth 
were  caught,  there  would  be  the  form  of  trial,  but  the  prin- 
cipal point  would  be  to  hang  him.  Like  the  rest  of  the 
world,  Mr.  Mordacks  at  first  believed  entirely  in  his  guilt  ; 
but  unlike  the  world,  he  did  not  desire  to  have  him  caught, 
and  brought  straightway  to  the  gallows.  Instead  of  seek- 
ing him,  therefore,  he  was  now  compelled  to  avoid  him, 
when  he  wanted  him  most  ;  for  it  never  must  be  said  that 
a  citizen  of  note  had  discoursed  with  such  a  criminal,  and 
allowed  him  to  escape.  On  the  other  hand,  here  he  had 
to  meet  Sir  Duncan,  and  tell  him  that  all  those  grand  prom- 
ises were  shattered  ;  that  in  finding  his  only  son,  all  he 
had  found  was  a  cowardly  murderer  flying  for  his  life,  and 
far  better  left  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  For  once  in  a  way, 
as  he  dwelt  upon  all  this,  the  general  factor  became  down- 
hearted, his  vigorous  face  lost  the  strong  lines  of  decision, 
and  he  even  allowed  his  mouth  to  open  without  anything  to 
put  into  it. 

But  it  was  impossible  for  this  to  last.  Nature  had  pro- 
vided Mordacks  with  an  admirably  high  opinion  of  himself, 
enlivened  by  a  sprightly  good- will  toward  the  world,  when- 
ever it  wagged  well  with  him.  He  had  plenty  of  business 
of  his  own,  and  yet  could  take  an  amateur  delight  in  the 
concerns  of  everybody  ;  he  was  always  at  liberty  to  give 
good  advice,  and  never  under  duty  to  take  it  ;  he  had  vigor 
of  mind,  of  memory,  of  character,  and  of  digestion  ;  and 
whenever  he  stole  a  holiday  from  self-denial,  and  launched 


A   CLEW  OF   BUTTONS.  387 

out  after  some  favorite  thing,  there  was  the  cash  to  do  it 
with,  and  the  health  to  do  it  pleasantly. 

Such  a  man  is  not  long  depressed  by  a  sudden  misadven- 
ture. Dr.  Upround's  opinion  in  favor  of  Robin  did  not  go 
very  far  with  him,  for  he  looked  upon  the  rector  as  a  man 
who  knew  more  of  divine  than  of  human  nature.  But  that 
fault  could  scarcely  be  found  with  a  woman,  or  at  any  rate 
with  a  widow  encumbered  with  a  large  family  hanging  upon 
the  dry  breast  of  the  government.  And  though  Mr.  Mor- 
dacks  did  not  invade  the  cottage  quite  so  soon  as  he  should 
have  done,  if  guided  by  strict  business,  he  thought  himself 
bound  to  get  over  that  reluctance,  and  press  her  upon  a  most 
distressing  subject,  before  he  kept  appointment  with  his 
principal. 

The  snow,  which  by  this  time  had  blockaded  Scargate, 
impounded  Jordas,  and  compelled  Mr.  Jellicorse  to  rest  and 
be  thankful  for  a  hot  mince-pie,  although  it  had  visited  this 
eastern  coast  as  well,  was  not  deep  enough  there  to  stop  the 
roads.  Keeping  head-quarters  at  the  "  Hooked  Cod  "  now, 
and  encouraging  a  butcher  to  set  up  again  (who  had  dropped 
all  his  money  in  his  hurry  to  get  on),  Geoffrey  Mordacks 
began  to  make  way  into  the  outer  crust  of  Flamborough 
society.  In  a  council  of  the  boats,  upon  a  Sunday  after- 
noon, every  boat  being  garnished  for  its  rest  upon  the  flat, 
and  every  master  fisherman  buttoned  with  a  flower — the 
last  flowers  of  the  year — and  bearing  ice-marks  in  their 
eyes — a  resolution  had  been  passed  that  the  inland  man 
meant  well,  had  naught  to  do  with  revenue,  or  Frenchmen 
either,  or,  what  was  even  worse,  any  outside  fishers,  such  as 
oftentime  came  sneaking  after  fishing  grounds  of  Flam- 
borough.  Mother  Tapsy  stood  credit  for  this  strange  man, 
and  he  might  be  allowed  to  go  where  he  was  minded,  and 
to  take  all  the  help  he  liked  to  pay  for. 

Few  men  could  have  achieved  such  a  triumph,  without 
having  married  a  Flamborough  lass,  which  must  have  been 
the  crown  of  all  human  ambition,  if  difficulty  crowns  it. 
Even  to  so  great  a  man  it  was  an  added  laurel,  and 
strengthened  him  much  in  his  opinion  of  himself.  In  spite 
of  all  disasters,  he  recovered  faith  in  fortune,  so  many  lead- 
ing Flamborough  men  began  to  touch  their  hats  to  him. 


388  MARY   ASTERLEY. 

And  thus  he  set  forth  before  a  bitter  eastern  gale,  with  the 
head  of  his  seasoned  charger  bent  toward  the  melancholy 
cot  at  Bridlington. 

Having  granted  a  new  life  of  slaughter  to  that  continually 
insolvent  butcher,  who  exhibited  the  body  of  a  sheep  once 
more,  with  an  eye  to  the  approach  of  Christmas,  this  uni- 
versal factor  made  it  a  point  of  duty  to  encourage  him.  In 
either  saddle-bag  he  bore  a  seven-pound  leg  of  mutton — a 
credit  to  a  sheep  of  that  district  then — and  to  show  himself 
no  traitor  to  the  place,  he  strapped  upon  his  crupper,  in 
some  oar-weed  and  old  netting,  a  twenty-pound  cod,  which 
found  it  hard  to  breathe  his  last  when  beginning  to  enjoy 
horse-exercise. 

"  There  is  a  lot  of  mouths  to  fill,"  said  Mr.  Mordacks, 
with  a  sigh,  while  his  landlady  squeezed  a  brown  loaf  of  her 
baking  into  the  nick  of  his  big  sword-strap  ;  "  and  you  and 
I  are  capable  of  entering  into  the  condition  of  the  widow 
and  the  fatherless. ' ' 

"  Hoonger  is  the  waa  of  them,  and  victuals  is  the  cure 
for  it.  Now  mind  you  coom  home  afore  dark,'7  cried  the 
widow,  to  whom  he  had  happened  to  say,  very  sadly,  that 
he  was  now  a  widower.  "  To  my  moind,  a  sight  o'  more 
snaw  is  a-coomin'  ;  and  what  man  sard  or  goon  foight 
again  it  ?  Captain  Moordocks,  coom  ye  home  arly. 
T'  hare  sha'  be  doon  to  a  toorn  be  fi'  o'clock.  Coom  ye 
home  be  that  o'clock,  if  ye  care  for  deener." 

"  I  must  have  made  a  tender  impression  on  her  heart," 
Mr.  Mordacks  said  to  himself,  as  he  kissed  his  hand  to  the 
capacious  hostess.  ' '  Such  is  my  fortune,  to  be  loved  by 
everybody,  while  aiming  at  the  sternest  rectitude.  It  is 
sweet,  it  is  dangerously  sweet  ;  but  what  a  comfort  !  How 
that  large-hearted  female  will  baste  my  hare  !" 


A    PLEASAKT   INTERVIEW.  389 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 

A     PLEASANT     INTERVIEW. 

CUMBERED  as  he  was  of  body,  and  burdened  with  some 
cares  of  mind,  the  general  factor  ploughed  his  way  with 
his  usual  resolution.  A  scowl  of  dark  vapor  came  over  the 
headlands,  and  underran  the  solid  snow-clouds  with  a  scud 
like  bonfire  smoke.  The  keen  wind  following  the  curves 
of  land,  and  shaking  the  fringe  of  every  white-clad  bush, 
piped  (like  a  boy  through  a  comb)  wherever  stock  or  stub 
divided  it.  It  turned  all  the  coat  of  the  horse  the  wrong 
way,  and  frizzed  up  the  hair  of  Mr.  Mordacks,  which  was 
as  short  as  a  soldier's,  and  tossed  up  his  heavy  riding-cape, 
and  got  into  him  all  up  the  small  of  his  back.  Being  fond 
of  strong  language,  he  indulged  in  much  ;  but  none  of  it 
wrarmed  him,  and  the  wind  whistled  over  his  shoulders,  and 
whirled  the  words  out  of  his  mouth. 

When  he  came  to  the  dip  of  the  road,  where  it  crosses 
the  Dane's  Dike,  he  pulled  up  his  horse  for  a  minute,  in 
the  shelter  of  shivering  fir-trees.  "  What  a  cursed  bleak 
country  !  My  fish  is  frozen  stiff,  and  my  legs  are  as  dead 
as  the  mutton  in  the  saddle-bags.  Geoffrey,  you  are  a 
fool,"  he  said.  "  Charity  is  very  fine,  and  business  even 
better  ;  but  a  good  coal  fire  is  the  best  of  all.  But  in  for 
a  penny  of  it,  in  for  a  pound.  Hark  !  I  hear  some  fellow- 
fool  equally  determined  to  be  frozen.  I'll  go  at  once  and 
hail  him  ;  perhaps  the  sight  of  him  will  warm  me." 

He  turned  his  horse  down  a  little  lane  upon  the  left, 
where  snow  lay  deep,  with  laden  bushes  overhanging  it, 
and  a  rill  of  water  bridged  with  bearded  ice  ran  dark  in  the 
hedge-trough.  And  here  he  found  a  stout  lusty  man,  with 
shining  red  checks  and  keen  blue  eyes,  hacking  and  hew- 
ing in  a  mighty  maze  of  brambles. 

"  My  friend,  you  seem  busy.  I  admire  your  vast  in- 
dustry," Mr.  Mordacks  exclaimed,  as  the  man  looked  at 
him,  but  ceased  not  from  swinging  his  long  hedge-hook. 
"  Happy  is  the  land  that  owns  such  men." 

"  The  land  dothn't  own  me  ;  I  own  the  land.  I  shall  be 
pleased  to  learn  what  your  business  is  upon  it. ' ' 


390  MARY   AKERLEY. 

Farmer  Anerley  hated  chaff,  as  a  good  agriculturist^should 
do.  Moreover,  he  was  vexed  by  many  little  griefs  to-day, 
and  had  not  been  out  long  enough  to  work  them  off.  He 

fuessed  pretty  shrewdly  that  this  sworded  man  was  "  More- 
ucks" — as  the  leading  wags  of  Flamborough  were  grad- 
ually calling  him — and  the  sight  of  a  sword  upon  his  farm 
(unless  of  an  officer  bound  to  it)  was  already  some  disqui- 
etude to  an  English  farmer's  heart.  That  was  a  trifle  ; 
for  fools  would  be  fools,  and  might  think  it  a  grand  thing 
to  go  about  with  tools  they  were  never  born  to  the  hand- 
ling of  ;  but  a  fellow  who  was  come  to  take  up  Robin 
Lyth's  case,  and  strive  to  get  him  out  of  his  abominable 
crime,  had  better  go  back  to  the  rogue's  highway,  instead 
of  coming  down  the  private  road  to  Anerley. 

"  Upon  my  word  I  do  believe,''  cried  Mordacks,  with  a 
sprightly  joy,  "  that  I  have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  at  last 
the  well-known  Captain  Anerley  !  My  dear  sir,  I  cannot 
help  commending  your  prudence  in  guarding  the  entrance 
to  your  manor  ;  but  not  in  this  employment  of  a  bill-hook. 
From  all  that  I  hear,  it  is  a  paradise  indeed.  What  a  haven  in 
such  weather  as  the  present  !  Now,  Captain  Anerley,  I  en- 
treat you  to  consider  whether  it  is  wise  to  take  the  thorn  so 
from  the  rose.  If  I  had  so  sweet  a  place,  I  would  plant 
brambles,  briers,  blackthorn,  furze,  cratsegus,  every  kind  of 
spinous  growth,  inside  my  gates,  and  never  let  anybody  lop 
them.  Captain,  you  are  too  hospitable.'' 

Farmer  Anerley  gazed  with  wonder  at  this  man,  who 
could  talk  so  fast  for  the  first  time  of  seeing  a  body.  Then 
feeling  as  if  his  hospitality  were  challenged,  and  desiring 
more  leisure  for  reflection,  "  You  had  better  come  down 
the  lane,  sir,'7  he  said. 

"  Am  I  to  understand  that  you  invite  me  to  your  house, 
or  only  to  the  gate  where  the  dogs  come  out  ?  Excuse  me  ; 
I  always  am  a  most  plain-spoken  man." 

"  Our  dogs  never  bite  nobody  but  rogues.7' 

' '  In  that  case,  Captain  Anerley,  I  may  trust  their  moral 
estimate.  I  knew  a  farmer  once  who  was  a  thorough  thief 
in  hay  ;  a  man  who  farmed  his  own  land  and  trimmed  his 
own  hedges  ;  a  thoroughly  respectable  and  solid  agricul- 
turist. But  his  trusses  of  hay  were  always  six  pounds 


A   PLEASANT  INTERVIEW.  391 

short,  and  if  anybody  brought  a  sample  truss  to  steelyard, 
he  had  got  a  little  dog,  just  seven  pounds  weight,  who 
slipped  into  the  core  of  it,  being  just  a  good  hay-color. 
He  always  delivered  his  hay  in  the  twilight,  and  when  it 
swung  the  beam  he  used  to  say,  i  Come,  now,  I  must 
charge  you  for  overweight.'  Now,  captain,  have  you  got 
such  an  honest  dog  as  that  ?" 

"  I  would  have  claimed  him,  that  I  would,  if  such  a 
clever  dog  were  weighed  to  me.  But,  sir,  you  have  got 
the  better  of  me.  What  a  man  for  stories  you  be,  for 
sure  !  Come  in  to  our  fire-place."  Farmer  Anerley  was 
conquered  by  this  tale,  which  he  told  fifty  times  every  year 
he  lived  thereafter,  never  failing  to  finish  with,  "  What 
rogues  they  be  up  York  way  I" 

Master  Mordacks  was  delighted  with  this  piece  of  luck 
on  his  side.  Many  times  he  had  been  longing  to  get  in  at 
Anerley,  not  only  from  the  reputation  of  good  cheer  there, 
but  also  from  kind  curiosity  to  see  the  charming  Mary,  who 
was  now  becoming  an  important  element  of  business.  Since 
Robin  had  given  him  the  slip  so  sadly — a  thing  it  was  im- 
possible to  guard  against — the  best  chance  of  hearing  what 
became  of  him  would  be  to  get  into  the  good  graces  of  his 
sweetheart. 

"  We  have  been  very  sadly  for  a  long  time  now,"  said 
the  farmer,  as  he  knocked  at  his  own  porch  door  with  the 
handle  of  his  bill-hook.  "  There  used  to  be  one  as  was 
always  welcome  here  ;  and  a  pleasure  it  was  to  see  him 
make  himself  so  pleasant,  sir..  But  ever  since  the  Lord 
took  him  home  from  his  family,  without  a  good-by,  as  a 
man  might  say,  my  wife  hath  taken  to  bar  the  doors  whiles 
I  am  away  and  out  of  sight."  Stephen  Anerley  knocked 
harder,  as  he  thus  explained  the  need  of  it  ;  for  it  grieved 
him  to  have  his  house  shut  up. 

li  Very  wise  of  them  all  to  bar  out  such  weather,"  said 
Mordacks,  who  read  the  farmer's  thoughts  like  print. 
"  Don't  relax  your  rules,  sir,  until  the  weather  changes. 
Ah,  that  was  a  very  sad  thing  about  the  captain  !  As  gal- 
lant an  officer,  and  as  single-minded,  as  ever  killed  a  French- 
man in  the  best  days  of  our  navy. ' ' 

44  Single-minded  is  the   very  word  to  give  him,  sir.     I 


392  MARY    ANERLEY. 

sought  about  for  it  ever  since  I  heard  of  him  coming  to  an 
end  like  that,  and  doing  of  his  duty  in  the  thick  of  it.  If 
I  could  only  get  a  gentleman  to  tell  me,  or  an  officer's  wife 
would  be  better  still,  what  the  manners  is  when  a  poor  lady 
gets  her  husband  shot,  I'll  be  blest  if  I  wouldn't  go  straight 
and  see  her,  though  they  make  such  a  distance  betwixt  us 
and  the  regulars —  Oh,  then,  ye've  come  at  last  !  No  thief  ! 
no  thief  !" 

44  Father,"  cried  Mary,  bravely  opening  all  the  door, 
of  which  the  ruffian  wind  made  wrong  by  casting  her  figure 
in  high  relief — and  yet  a  pardonable  wrong — 44  father,  you 
are  quite  wise  to  come  home  before  your  dear  nose  is  quite 
cut  off —  Oh,  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir  ;  I  never  saw  you." 

44  My  fate  in  life  is  to  be  overlooked,"  Mr.  Mordacks 
answered,  with  a  martial  stride  ;  44  but  not  always,  young 
lady,  with  such  exquisite  revenge.  What  I  look  at  pays 
fiftyfold  for  being  overlooked." 

44  You  are  an  impudent,  conceited  man,"  thought  Mary 
to  herself,  with  gross  injustice  ;  but  she  only  blushed  and 
said,  "  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir." 

44  You  see,  sir,"  quoth  the  farmer,  with  some  severity, 
tempered,  however,  with  a  smile  of  pride,  "  my  daughter, 
Mary  Anerley." 

44  And  I  take  off  my  hat,"  replied  audacious  Mordacks, 
among  whose  faults  was  no  false  shame,  44  not  only  to  salute 
a  lady,  sir,  but  also  to  have  a  better  look." 

44  Well,  well,"  said  the  farmer,  as  Mary  ran  away  ; 
44  your  city  ways  are  high  polite,  no  doubt,  but  my  little 
lass  is  strange  to  them.  And  I  like  her  better  so  than  to 
answer  pert  with  pertness.  Now  come  you  in,  and  warm 
your  feet  a  bit.  None  of  us  are  younger  than  we  used  to 
be." 

This  was  not  Master  Anerley 's  general  style  of  welcoming 
a  guest,  but  he  hated  new-fangled  Frenchified  manners,  as 
he  told  his  good  wife,  when  he  boasted  by  and  by  how 
finely  he  had  put  that  old  coxcomb  down.  44  You  never 
should  have  done  it,"  was  all  the  praise  he  got.  44  Mr. 
Mordacks  is  a  business  man,  and  business  men  always  must 
relieve  their  minds."  For  no  sooner  now  was  the  general 
factor  introduced  to  Mistress  Anerley  than  she  perceived 


A   PLEASANT   INTERVIEW.  303 

clearly  that  the  object  of  his  visit  was  not  to  make  speeches 
to  young  chits  of  girls,  but  to  seek  the  advice  of  a  sensible 
person,  who  ought  to  have  been  consulted  a  hundred  times 
for  once  that  she  even  had  been  allowed  to  open  her  mouth 
fairly.  Sitting  by  the  fire,  he  convinced  her  that  the  whole 
of  the  mischief  had  been  caused  by  sheer  neglect  of  her 
opinion.  Everything  she  said  was  so  exactly  to  the  point, 
that  he  could  not  conceive  how  it  should  have  been  so 
slighted,  and  she  for  her  part  begged  him  to  stay  and  par- 
take of  their  simple  dinner. 

' i  Dear  madam,  it  cannot  be,"  he  replied.  "  Alas  !  I 
must  not  think  of  it.  My  conscience  reproaches  me  for  in- 
dulging as  I  have  done,  in  what  is  far  sweeter  than  even 
one  of  your  dinners — a  most  sensible  lady's  society.  I 
have  a  long  bitter  ride  before  me  to  comfort  the  fatherless 
and  the  widow.  My  two  legs  of  mutton  will  be  thawed  by 
this  time  in  the  genial  warmth  of  your  stable.  I  also  am 
thawed,  warmed,  feasted,  I  may  say,  by  happy  approxima- 
tion to  a  mind  so  bright  and  congenial.  Captain  Anerley, 
madam,  has  shown  true  kindness  in  allowing  me  the  priv- 
ilege of  exclusive  speech  with  you.  Little  did  I  hope  for 
such  a  piece  of  luck  this  morning.  You  have  put  so  many 
things  in  a  new  and  brilliant  light  that  my  road  becomes 
clear  before  me.  Justice  must  be  done  ;  and  you  feel  quite 
sure  that  Robin  Lyth  committed  this  atrocious  murder  be- 
cause poor  Carroway  surprised  him  so  when  making  clan- 
destine love,  at  your  brother  Squire  PopplewelPs,  to  a  beau- 
tiful young  lady  who  shall  be  nameless.  And  deeply  as 
you  grieve  for  the  loss  of  such  a  neighbor,  the  bravest  offi- 
cer of  the  British  Navy,  who  leaped  from  a  strictly  im- 
measurable height  into  a  French  ship,  and  scattered  all  her 
crew,  and  has  since  had  a  baby  about  three  months  old,  as 
well  as  innumerable  children,  you  feel  that  you  have  reason 
to  be  thankful  sometimes  that  the  young  man's  character 
has  been  so  clearly  shown,  before  he  contrived  to  make  his 
way  into  the  bosom  of  respectable  families  in  the  neighbor- 
hood." 

"  I  never  thought  it  out  quite  so  clear  as  that,  sir  ;  for  I 
feel  so  sorry  for  everybody,  and  especially  those  who  have 
brought  him  up,  and  those  he  has  made  away  with." 


394  MAEY   ANERLEY. 

i  i  Quite  so,  my  dear  madam  ;  such  are  your  fine  feelings, 
springing  from  the  goodness  of  your  nature.  Pardon  my 
saying  that  you  could  have  no  other,  according  to  my  ex- 
perience  of  a  most  benevolent  countenance.  Part  of  my 
duty,  and  in  such  a  case  as  yours,  one  of  the  pleasantest 
parts  of  it,  is  to  study  the  expression  of  a  truly  benevolent — ' ' 

44  I  am  not  that  old,  sir,  asking  of  your  pardon,  to  pre- 
tend to  be  benevolent.  All  that  I  lay  claim  to  is  to  look  at 
things  sensible. " 

1  i  Certainly,  yet  with  a  tincture  of  high  feeling.  Now,  if 
it  should  happen  that  this  poor  young  man  were  of  very 
high  birth,  perhaps  the  highest  in  the  county,  and  the  heir 
to  a  very  large  landed  property,  and  a  title,  and  all  that  sort 
of  nonsense,  you  would  look  at  him  from  the  very  same 
point  of  view  ?" 

44  That  I  would,  sir,  that  I  would.  So  long  as  he  was 
proclaimed  for  hanging.  But  naturally  bound,  of  course, 
to  be  more  sorry  for  him." 

44  Yes,  from  a  sense  of  all  the  good  things  he  must  lose. 
There  seems,  however,  to  be  strong  ground  for  believing — 
as  I  may  tell  you  in  confidence,  Dr.  Upround  does — that  he 
had  no  more  to  do  with  it  than  you  or  I,  ma'am.  At  first 
I  concluded  as  you  have  done.  I  am  going  to  see  Mrs.  Car- 
roway  now.  Till  then  I  suspend  rny  judgment." 

44  Now  that  is  what  nobody  should  do,  Mr.  Mordacks. 
I  have  tried,  but  never  found  good  come  of  it.  To  change 
your  mind  is  two  words  against  yourself  ;  and  you  go  wrong 
both  ways,  before  and  after." 

44  Undoubtedly  you  do,  ma'am.  I  never  thought  of  that 
before.  But  you  must  remember  that  we  have  not  the  gift 
of  hitting — I  might  say  of  making — the  truth  with  a  flash 
or  a  dash,  as  you  ladies  have.  May  I  be  allowed  to  come 
again?" 

4  4  To  tell  you  the  truth,  sir,  I  am  heartily  sorry  that  you 
are  going  away  at  all.  I  could  have  talked  to  you  all  the 
afternoon  ;  and  how  seldom  I  get  the  chance  now,  Lord 
knows.  There  is  that  in  your  conversation  which  makes 
one  feel  quite  sure  of  being  understood  ;  not  so  much  in 
what  you  say,  sir — if  you  understand  my  meaning — as  in 
the  way  you  look,  quite  as  if  my  meaning  was  not  at  all  too 


A   PLEASANT   INTERVIEW.  395 

quick  for  you.  My  good  husband  is  of  a  greater  mind  than 
I  am,  being  nine  and  forty  inches  round  the  chest  ;  but  his 
mind  seems  somehow  to  come  after  mine,  the  same  as  the 
ducks  do,  going  down  to  our  pond." 

44  Mistress  Anerley,  how  thankful  you  should  be  ! 
What  a  picture  of  conjugal  felicity  !  But  I  thought  that 
the  drake  always  led  the  way  ?" 

44  Never  upon  our  farm,  sir.  When  he  doth,  it  is  a 
proof  of  his  being  crossed  with  wild  ducks.  The  same  as 
they  be  round  Flamborough." 

44  Oh,  now,  I  see  the  truth.  How  slow  I  am  !  It  im- 
proves their  flavor,  at  the  expense  of  their  behavior.  But 
seriously,  madam,  you  are  fit  to  take  the  lead.  What  a 
pleasant  visit  I  have  had  !  I  must  brace  myself  up  for  a 
very  sad  one  now — a  poor  lady,  with  none  to  walk  behind 
her." 

44  Yes,  to  be  sure  !  It  is  very  fine  of  me  to  talk.  But 
if  I  was  left  without  my  husband,  I  should  only  care  to  walk 
after  him.  Please  to  give  her  my  kind  love,  sir,  though  I 
have  only  seen  her  once.  And  if  there  is  anything  that  we 
can  do — " 

44  If  there  is  anything  that  we  can  do,"  said  the  farmer, 
coming  out  of  his  corn-chamber,  44  we  won't  talk  about  it, 
but  we'll  do  it,  Mr.  Moreducks." 

The  factor  quietly  dispersed  this  rebuke,  by  waving  his 
hand  at  his  two  legs  of  mutton  and  the  cod,  which  had 
thawed  in  the  stable.  44  I  knew  that  I  should  be  too  late," 
he  said  ;  44  her  house  will  be  full  of  such  little  things  as 
these,  so  warm  is  the  feeling  of  the  neighborhood.  I 
guessed  as  much,  and  arranged  with  my  butcher  to  take 
them  back  in  that  case  ;  and  he  said  they  would  eat  all  the 
better  for  the  ride.  But  as  for  the  cod,  perhaps  you  will 
accept  him.  I  could  never  take  him  back  to  Flamborough. " 

44  Ride  away,  sir,  ride  away,"  said  the  farmer,  who  had 
better  not  have  measured  swords  with  Mordacks.  "  I  were 
thinking  of  sending  a  cart  over  there,  so  soon  as  the  weather 
should  be  opening  of  the  roads  up.  But  the  children  might 
be  hankeriu'  after  meat,  the  worse  for  all  the  snow-time." 

44  It  is  almost  impossible  to  imagine  such  a  thing.  Uni- 
versally respected,  suddenly  cut  off,  enormous  family  witli 


396  MAKY   AKERLEY. 

hereditary  hunger,  all  the  neighbors  well  aware  of  straitened 
circumstances,  the  kindest-hearted  county  in  Great  Britain 
— sorrow  and  abundance  must  have  cloyed  their  appetites, 
as  at  a  wealthy  man's  funeral.  What  a  fool  I  must  have 
been  not  to  foresee  all  that  !" 

"  Better  see  than  foresee,"  replied  the  farmer,  who  was 
crusty  from  remembering  that  he  had  done  nothing. 
"  Neighbors  like  to  wait  for  neighbors  to  go  in  ;  same  as 
two  cows  staring  at  a  new-mown  meadow." 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

THE    WAY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

CLIFFS  snow-mantled,  and  storm-ploughed  sands,  and 
dark  gray  billows  frilled  with  white,  rolling  and  roaring  to 
the  shrill  east  wind,  made  the  bay  of  Bridlingtona  very  dif- 
ferent sight  from  the  smooth,  fair  scene  of  August.  Scarce- 
ly could  the  staggering  colliers,  anchored  under  Flambor- 
ough  Head  (which  they  gladly  would  have  rounded  if  they 
could),  hold  their  own  against  wind  and  sea,  although  the 
outer  spit  of  sand  tempered  as  yet  the  full  violence  of 
waves. 

But  if  everything  looked  cold  and  dreary,  rough,  and 
hard,  and  bare  of  beauty,  the  cottage  of  the  late  lieutenant, 
standing  on  the  shallow  bluff,  beaten  by  the  wind,  and 
blinded  of  its  windows  from  within,  of  all  things  looked  the 
most  forlorn,  most  desolate,  and  freezing.  The  windward 
side  was  piled  with  snow,  on  the  crest  of  which  foam  pel- 
lets lay,  looking  yellow  by  comparison,  and  melting  small 
holes  with  their  brine.  At  the  door  no  foot-mark  broke 
the  drift  ;  and  against  the  vaporous  sky  no  warmer  vapor 
tufted  the  chimney-pots. 

"  I  am  pretty  nearly  frozen  again,"  said  Mordacks  ; 
"  but  that  place  sends  another  shiver  down  my  back.  All 
the  poor  little  devils  must  be  icicles  at  least." 

After  peeping  though  a  blind  he  turned  pale  betwixt  his 
blueness,  and  galloped  to  the  public-house  abutting  on  the 


THE    WAY   OF   THE    WORLD.  397 

quay.  Here  lie  marched  into  the  parlor,  and  stamped 
about,  till  a  merry-looking  landlord  came  to  him.  "  Have 
a  glass  of  hot,  sir  ;  how  blue  your  nose  is  !M  the  genial 
master  said  to  him.  The  reply  of  the  factor  cannot  be  writ- 
ten down  in  these  days  of  noble  language.  Enough  that 
it  was  a  terse  malediction  of  the  landlord,  the  glass  of  hot, 
and  even  his  own  nose.  Boniface  was  no  Yorkshireman, 
else  would  he  have  given  as  much  as  he  got,  at  least  in  lin- 
gual currency.  As  it  was,  he  considered  it  no  affair  of  his 
if  a  guest  expressed  his  nationality.  "  You  must  have  bet- 
ter orders  than  that  to  give,  I  hope,  sir. " 

1 4  Yes,  sir,  1  have.  And  you  have  got  the  better  of  me  ; 
which  has  happened  to  me  three  times  this  day  already, 
because  of  the  freezing  of  my  wits,  young  man.  Now 
you  go  in  to  your  best  locker,  and  bring  me  your  very  best 
bottle  of  Cognac — none  of  your  government  stuff,  you 
know,  but  a  sample  of  your  finest  bit  of  smuggling.  Why 
did  I  swear  at  a  glass  of  hot  ?  Why,  because  you  are  all 
such  a  set  of  scoundrels.  I  want  a  glass  of  hot  as  much  as 
man  ever  did.  But  how  can  I  drink  it,  when  women  and 
children  are  dying — perhaps  dead,  for  all  I  know — for  want 
of  warmth  and  victuals  ?  Your  next-door  neighbors,  almost, 
and  a  woman,  whose  husband  has  just  been  murdered  ! 
And  here  you  are  swizzling  and  rattling  your  coppers. 
Good  God,  sir  !  The  Almighty  from  heaven  would  send 
orders  to  have  his  own  commandment  broken. " 

Mr.  Mordacks  was  excited,  and  the  landlord  saw  no  cause 
for  it.  "  What  makes  you  carry  on  like  this  ?"  he  said  ; 
11  it  was  only  last  night  we  was  talking  in  the  tap-room  of 
getting  a  subscription  up,  downright  liberal.  I  said  I  was 
good  for  a  crown,  and  take  it  out  of  the  tick  they  owes 
me.  And  when  you  come  to  think  of  these  hard  times — " 

u  Take  that,  and  then  tell  me  if  you  find  them  softer.7' 
Suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  the  universal  factor  did 
something  omitted  on  his  card  in  the  list  of  his  comprehen- 
sive functions.  As  the  fat  host  turned  away  to  rub  his 
hands,  with  a  phosphoric  feeling  of  his  future  generosity, 
a  set  of  highly  energetic  toes,  prefixed  with  the  toughest 
York  leather,  and  tingling  for  exercise,  made  him  their  ex- 
ample. The  landlord  flew  up  among  his  own  pots  and 


398  MARY  AKERLEY. 

glasses,  his  head  struck  the  ceiling,  which  declined  too  long 
a  taste  of  him,  and  anon  a  silvery  ring  announced  his  return 
to  his  own  timbers. 

44  Accept  that  neighborly  subscription,  rny  dear  friend, 
and  acknowledge  its  promptitude,7'  said  Mr.  Mordacks  ; 
u  and  now  be  quick  about  your  orders,  perad venture  a  sec- 
ond flight  might  be  less  agreeable.  Now  don't  show  any 
airs  ;  you  have  been  well  treated,  and  should  be  thankful  for 
the  facilities  you  have  to  offer.  I  know  a  poor  man  with- 
out any  legs  at  all,  who  would  be  only  too  glad  if  he  could 
do  what  you  have  done." 

11  Then  his  taste  must  be  a  queer  one,"  the  landlord  re- 
plied, as  he  illustrated  sadly  the  discovery  reserved  for  a 
riper  age — that  human  fingers  have  attained  their  present 
flexibility,  form,  and  skill,  by  habit  of  assuaging,  for  some 
millions  of  ages,  the  woes  of  the  human  body. 

"  Now  don't  waste  my  time  like  that,"  cried  Mordacks  ; 
and  seeing  him  draw  near  again,  his  host  became  right  ac- 
tive. u  Benevolence  must  be  inculcated,"  continued  the 
factor,  following  strictly  in  pursuit.  "  I  have  done  you  a 
world  of  good,  my  dear  friend  ;  and  reflection  will  compel 
you  to  heap  every  blessing  on  me. ' ' 

"  I  don't  know  about  that,"  replied  the  landlord. 

It  is  certain,  however,  that  this  exhibition  of  philanthropic 
vigor  had  a  fine  effect.  In  five  minutes  all  the  resources  of 
the  house  were  at  the  disposal  of  this  rapid  agent,  who  gave 
his  orders  right  and  left,  clapped  down  a  bag  of  cash,  and 
took  it  up  again,  and  said,  "  Now  just  you  mind  my  horse 
twice  as  well  as  you  mind  your  fellow-creatures.  Take  a 
leg  of  mutton  out,  and  set  it  roasting.  Have  your  biggest 
bed  hot  for  a  lot  of  frozen  children.  By  the  Lord,  if  you 
don't  look  alive,  I'll  have  you  up  for  murder  !"  As  he 
spoke,  a  stout  fish-woman  came  in  from  the  quay  ;  and  ho 
beckoned  to  her,  and  took  her  with  him. 

"  You  can't  come  in,"  said  a  little  weak  voice,  when  Mr. 
Mordacks,  having  knocked  in  vain,  began  to  prise  open  the 
cottage-door.  V  Mother  is  so  poorly  ;  and  you  mustn't  think 
of  coming  in.  Oh,  whatever  shall  I  do  if  you  won't  stop 
when  I  tell  you  ?" 

* '  Where  are  all  the  rest  of  you  ?     Oh,  in  the  kitchen 


THE   WAY    OF   THE   WOULD.  399 

are  they  ?     You  poor  little  atomy,  how  many  of  you  are 
dead  ?" 

"  None  of  us  dead,  sir  ;  without  it  is  the  baby  ;"  here 
Geraldine  burst  into  a  wailing  storm  of  tears.  "  I  gave 
them  every  bit/7  she  sobbed — "  every  bit,  sir,  but  the 
rush-lights  ;  and  them  they  wouldn't  eat,  sir,  or  I  never 
would  have  touched  them.  But  mother  is  gone  off  her 
head,  and  baby  wouldn't  eat  it." 

44  You  are  a  little  heroine, "  said  Mordacks,  looking  at 
her — the  pinched  face,  and  the  hollow  eyes,  and  the  totter- 
ing blue  legs  of  her.  "  You  are  greater  than  a  queen.  No 
queen  forgets  herself  in  that  way." 

"  Please,  sir,  no  ;  I  ate  almost  a  box  of  rush-lights,  and 
they  were  only  done  last  night.  Oh,  if  baby  would  have 
took  to  them  !" 

A<  Hot  bread  and  milk  in  this  bottle  ;  pour  it  out  ;  feed 
her  first,  Molly,"  Mr.  Mordacks  ordered.  4t  The  world 
can't  spare  such  girls  as  this.  Oh,  you  won't  eat  first  ! 
Very  well ;  then  the  others  shall  not  have  a  morsel  till  your 
mouth  is  full.  And  they  seem  to  want  it  bad  enough. 
Where  is  the  dead  baby  ?" 

In  the  kitchen,  where  now  they  stood,  not  a  spark  of 
fire  was  lingering,  but  some  wood-ash  still  retained  a  feeble 
memory  of  warmth  ;  and  three  little  children  (blest  with 
small  advance  from  babyhood)  were  huddling  around,  with 
hands,  and  faces,  and  sharp  grimy,  knees  poking  in  for  luke- 
warm corners  ;  while  two  rather  senior  young  Carroways 
were  lying  fast  asleep,  with  a  jack-towel  over  them.  But 
Tommy  was  not  there  ;  that  gallant  Tommy,  who  had  rid- 
den all  the  way  to  Filey  after  dark,  and  brought  his  poor 
father  to  the  fatal  place. 

Mordacks,  with  his  short,  bitter-sweet  smile,  considered 
all  these  little  ones.  They  were  not  beautiful,  nor  even 
pretty  ;  one  of  them  was  too  literally  a  chip  of  the  old  block, 
for  he  had  reproduced  his  dear  father's  scar  ;  and  every 
one  of  them  wanted  a  "  wash  and  brush  up,"  as  well  as  a 
warming  and  sound  victualling.  Corruptio  optimi  pessima. 
These  children  had  always  been  so  highly  scrubbed,  that  the 
great  molecular  author  of  existence,  dirt,  resinned  parental 


400  MARY   A^ERLEY. 

sway,  with  tenfold  power  of  attachment  and  protection,  the 
moment  soap  and  flannel  ceased  their  wicked  usurpation. 

"  Please,  sir,  I  couldn't  keep  them  clean,  I  couldn't  !" 
cried  Geraldine,  choking  both  with  bread  and  milk,  and 
tears.  * 4  I  had  Tommy  to  feed  through  the  coal-cellar  door  ; 
and  all  the  bits  of  victuals  in  the  house  to  hunt  up  ;  and  it 
did  get  so  dark,  and  it  was  so  cold.  I  am  frightened  to 
think  of  what  mother  will  say  for  my  burning  up  all  of  her 
brushes,  and  the  baskets.  But  please,  sir,  little  Cissy  was 
a-freezing  at  the  nose." 

The  three  little  children  at  the  grate  were  peeping  back 
over  the  pits  in  their  shoulders,  half  frightened  at  the  tall, 
strange  man,  and  half  ready  to  toddle  to  him  for  protection  ; 
while  the  two  on  the  floor  sat  up  and  stared,  and  opened 
their  mouths  for  their  sister's  bread  and  milk.  Then 
Jerry  flew  to  them,  and  squatted  on  the  stones,  and  very 
nearly  choked  them  with  her  spoon  and  basin. 

"  Molly,  take  two  in  your  apron,  and  be  off,"  said  the 
factor  to  the  stout  fish-woman — who  was  simply  full  of  star- 
ing, and  of  crying  out,  "  Oh  lor  !" — "  pop  them  into  the 
hot  bed  at  once  ;  they  want  warmth  first  and  victuals  by 
and  by.  Our  wonderful  little  maid  wants  food  most.  I 
will  come  after  you  with  the  other  three.  But  I  must  see 
my  little  queen  fill  her  own  stomach  first." 

""  But  please,  sir,  won't  you  let  our  Tommy  out  first  ?" 
cried  Jerry,  as  the  strong  woman  lapped  up  the  two  youngest 
in  her  woolsey  apron,  and  ran  off  with  them.  "  He  has 
been  so  good,  and  he  was  too  proud  to  cry  so  soon  as  ever 
he  found  out  that  mother  couldn't  hear  him.  And  I  gave 
him  the  most  to  eat  of  anybody  else,  because  of  him  being 
the  biggest,  sir.  It  was  all  as  black  as  ink  going  under  the 
door  ;  but  Tommy  never  minded. ' ' 

11  Wonderful  merit  !  While  you  were  eating  tallow  ! 
Show  me  the  coal-cellar,  and  out  he  comes.  But  why  don't 
you  speak  of  your  poor  mother,  child  ?" 

The  child,  who  had  been  so  brave,  and  clever,  self-deny- 
ing, laborious,  and  noble,  avoided  his  eyes,  and  began  to 
lick  her  spoon,  as  if  she  had  had  enough,  starving  though 
she  was.  She  glanced  up  at  the  ceiling,  and  then  suddenly 
withdrew  her  eyes,  and  the  blue  lids  trembled  over  them. 


THE   WAY   OF  THE   WORLD.  401 

Morel acks  saw  that  it  was  childhood's  dread  of  death. 
"  Show  me  where  little  Tommy  is,"  he  said  ;  "we  must 
not  be  too  hard  upon  you,  my  dear.  But  what  made  your 
mother  lock  you  up  and  carry  on  so  ?" 

"  I  don't  know  at  all,  sir,"  said  Gcraldine. 

"  Now  don't  tell  a  story,"  answered  Mr.  Mordacks. 
* 4  You  were  not  meant  for  lies  ;  and  you  know  all  about  it. 
I  shall  just  go  away  if  you  tell  stories." 

"  Then  all  I  know  is  this,"  cried  Jerry,  running  up  to 
him,  and  desperately  clutching  at  his  riding-coat  ;  "  the 
very  night  dear  father  was  put  into  the  pit-hole — oh,  hoo, 
oh,  hoo,  oh,  hoo  !" 

"  Now  we  can't  stop  for  that,"  said  the  general  factor, 
as  he  took  her  up  and  kissed  her,  and  the  tears,  which  had 
vainly  tried  to  stop,  ran  out  of  young  eyes  upon  well- 
seasoned  cheeks  ;  tk  you  have  been  a  wonder  ;  I  am  like  a 
father  to  you.  You  must  tell  me  quickly,  or  else  how  can 
I  cure  it  ?  We  will  let  Tommy  out  then,  and  try  to  save 
your  mother." 

"  Mother  was  sitting  in  the  window,  sir,"  said  the  child, 
trying  strongly  to  command  herself,  "  and  I  was  to  one  side 
of  her  and  Tommy  to  the  other,  and  none  of  us  was  saying 
anything.  And  then  there  came  a  bad,  wicked  face  against 
the  window,  and  the  man  said,  *  What  was  it  you  said  to- 
day, ma'am  ? '  And  mother  stood  up — she  was  quite  right 
then — and  she  opened  the  window,  and  she  looked  right  at 
him,  and  she  said,  '  I  spoke  the  truth,  John  Cadman.  Be- 
tween you  and  your  God  it  rests.'  And  the  man  said, 
4  You  shut  your  black  mouth  up,  or  you  and  your  brats  shall 
all  go  the  same  way.  Mind  one  thing — you've  had  you 
warning.'  Then  mother  fell  away,  for  she  was  just  worn 
out  ;  and  she  lay  upon  the  floor,  and  she  kept  on  moaning, 
*  There  is  no  God.  There  is  no  God  !'  after  all  she  have 
taught  us  to  say  our  prayers  to.  And  there  was  nothing 
for  baby  to  draw  ever  since." 

For  once  in  his  life  Mr.  Mordacks  held  his  tongue  ;  and 
his  face,  which  was  generally  fiercer  than  his  mind,  was 
now  far  behind  it  in  ferocity.  He  thought  within  himself, 
"  Well,  I  am  come  to  something,  to  have  let  such  things 
be  going  on  in  a  matter  which  pertains  to  my  office — pigeon- 
26 


402  MARY   ANERLEY. 

hole  100  !  This  coraes  of  false  delicacy,  my  stumbling- 
block  perpetually  !  No  more  of  that.  Now  for  action. " 

Geraldine  looked  up  at  him  and  said,  "  Oh,  please,  sir." 
And  then  she  ran  off,  to  show  the  way  toward  little  Tom- 
my. 

The  coal  cellar  flew  open  before  the  foot  of  Mordacks  ; 
but  no  Tommy  appeared  till  his  sister  ran  in.  The  poor 
little  fellow  was  quite  dazzled  with  the  light  ;  and  the 
grime  on  his  cheeks  made  the  inrush  of  fresh  air  come  like 
wasps  to  him.  "  Now,  Tommy,  you  be  good,"  said  Ger- 
aldine ;  "  trouble  enough  has  been  made  about  you." 

The  boy  put  out  his  under  lip  and  blinked  with  great 
amazement.  After  such  a  quantity  of  darkness  and  starva- 
tion, to  be  told  to  be  good  was  a  little  too  bad.  His  sense 
of  right  and  wrong  became  fluid  with  confusion  ;  he  saw 
no  sign  of  anything  to  eat ;  and  the  loud  howl  of  an  injured 
heart  began  to  issue  from  the  coally  rampart  of  neglected 
teeth. 

"  Quite  right,  my  boy,"  Mr.  Mordacks  said.  "  You 
have  had  a  bad  time,  and  are  entitled  to  lament.  Wipe 
your  nose  on  your  sleeve  and  have  at  it  again." 

"  Dirty,  dirty  things  I  hear.  Who  is  come  into  my 
house  like  this  ?  My  house  and  my  baby  belong  to  me. 
Go  away  all  of  you.  How  can  I  bear  this  noise  ?" 

Mrs.  Carroway  stood  in  the  passage  behind  them,  look- 
ing only  fit  to  die.  One  of  her  husband' swatch-coats  hung 
around  her,  falling  nearly  to  her  feet  ;  and  the  long  clothes 
of  her  dead  baby,  which  she  carried,  hung  over  it,  shaking 
like  a  white  dog's  tail.  She  was  standing  with  her  bare 
feet  well  apart,  and  that  swing  of  hip  and  heel  alternate 
which  mothers  for  a  thousand  generations  have  supposed  to 
lull  their  babies  into  sweet  sleep. 

For  once  in  his  life  the  general  factor  had  not  the  least 
idea  of  the  proper  thing  to  do.  Not  only  did  he  not  find 
it,  but  he  did  even  seek  for  it,  standing  aside  rather  out  of 
the  way,  and  trying  to  look  like  a  calm  spectator.  But  this 
availed  him  to  no  account  whatever.  He  was  the  only  man 
there,  and  the  woman  naturally  fixed  upon  him. 

"  You  are  the  man,"  she  said  in  a  quiet  and  reasonable 
voice,  and  coming  up  to  Mordacks  with  the  manner  of  a 


THE  WAY   OF  THE   WORLD.  403 

lady  ;  *'  you  are  the  gentleman,  I  mean,  who  promised  to 
bring  back  my  husband.  Where  is  he  ?  Have  you  ful- 
filled your  promise  ?" 

"  My  dear  madam,  my  dear  madam,  consider  your  chil- 
dren, and  how  cold  you  are.  Allow  me  to  conduct  you  to 
a  warmer  place.  You  scarcely  seem  to  enter  into  the  situ- 
ation." 

* '  Oh,  yes,  I  do,  sir,  thoroughly,  thoroughly.  My  hus- 
band is  in  his  grave  ;  my  children  are  going  after  him  ;  and 
the  best  place  for  them.  But  they  shall  not  be  murdered. 
I  will  lock  them  up,  so  that  they  never  shall  be  murdered." 

* '  My  dear  lady,  I  agree  with  you  entirely.  You  do  the 
very  wisest  thing  in  these  bad  times.  But  you  know  me 
well.  I  have  had  the  honor  of  making  your  acquaintance 
in  a  pleasant  manner.  I  feel  for  your  children,  quite  as  if 
I  was — I  mean,  ma'am,  a  very  fine  old  gentleman's  affec- 
tion. Geraldine,  come  and  kiss  me,  my  darling.  Tommy, 
you  may  have  the  other  side  ;  never  mind  the  coal,  my 
boy  ;  there  is  a  coal-wharf  quite  close  to  my  windows  at 
home." 

These  children,  who  had  been  hiding  behind  Mr.  Mor- 
dacks  and  Molly  (who  was  now  come  back),  immediately 
did  as  he  ordered  them  ;  or  rather  Jerry  led  the  way,  and 
made  Tommy  come  as  well,  by  a  signal  which  he  never 
durst  gainsay.  But  while  they  saluted  the  general  factor 
(who  sat  down  upon  a  box  to  accommodate  them),  from  the 
corners  of  their  eyes  they  kept  a  timid,  trembling,  melan- 
choly watch  upon  their  own  mother. 

Poor  Mrs.  Carroway  was  capable  of  wondering.  Her 
power  of  judgment  was  not  so  far  lost  as  it  is  in  a  dream — 
where  we  wonder  at  nothing,  but  cast  off  skeptic  misery — 
and  for  the  moment  she  seemed  to  be  brought  home  from 
the  distance  of  roving  delusion,  by  looking  at  two  of  her 
children  kissing  a  man  who  was  hunting  in  his  pocket  for 
his  card. 

"Circumstances,  madam,"  said  Mr.  Mordacks,  "  have 
deprived  me  of  the  pleasure  of  producing  my  address.  It 
should  be  in  two  of  my  pockets  ;  but  it  seems  to  have 
strangely  escaped  from  both  of  them.  However,  I  will 
write  it  down,  if  required,  (rcraldine,  dear,  where  is  your 


404  MABY   ANERLEY. 

school -slate  ?     Go  and  look  for  it,  and  take  Tommy  with 

you." 

This  surprised  Mrs.  Carroway,  and  began  to  make  her 
think.  These  were  her  children — she  was  nearly  sure  of 
that — her  own  poor  children,  who  were  threatened  from  all 
sides  with  the  likelihood  of  being  done  away  with.  Yet 
here  was  a  man  who  made  much  of  them,  and  kissed  them  ; 
and  they  kissed  him  without  asking  her  permission  ! 

"  I  scarcely  know  what  it  is  about,"  she  said  ;  "  and  my 
husband  is  not  here  to  help  me. ' ' 

"  You  have  hit  the  very  point,  ma'am.  You  must  take 
it  on  yourself.  How  wonderfully  clever  the  ladies  always 
are  !  Your  family  is  waiting  for  a  government  supply  ; 
everybody  knows  that  everybody  in  the  world  may  starve 
before  government  thinks  of  supplying  supply.  I  do  not 
belong  to  the  government — although  if  I  had  ray  deserts  I 
should  have  done  so — but  fully  understanding  them,  I  step 
in  to  anticipate  their  action.  I  see  that  the  children  of  a 
very  noble  officer,  and  his  admirable  wife,  have  been  neg- 
lected, through  the  rigor  of  the  weather  and  condition  of 
the  roads.  I  am  a  very  large  factor  in  the  neighborhood, 
who  make  a  good  thing  out  of  all  such  cases.  I  step  in  ; 
circumstances  favor  me  ;  I  discover  a  good  stroke  of  busi- 
ness ;  my  very  high  character,  though  much  obscured  by 
diffidence,  secures  me  universal  confidence.  The  little 
dears  take  to  me  and  I  to  them.  They  feel  themselves  safe 
under  my  protection  from  their  most  villainous  enemies. 
They  are  pleased  to  kiss  a  man  of  strength  and  spirit,  who 
represents  the  government. ' ' 

Mrs.  Carroway  scarcely  understood  a  jot  of  this.  Such  a 
rush  of  words  made  her  weak  brain  go  round,  and  she  look- 
ed about  vainly  for  her  children,  who  had  gladly  escaped 
upon  the  chance  afforded.  But  she  came  to  the  conclusion 
she  was  meant  to  come  to — that  this  gentleman  before  her 
was  the  government. 

u  I  will  do  whatever  I  am  told,"  she  said,  looking  mis- 
erably round,  as  if  for  anything  to  care  about  ;  * '  only  I  must 
count  my  children  first,  or  the  government  might  say  there 
was  not  the  proper  number." 

u  Of  all  points  that  is  the  very  one  that  I  would  urge," 


THE  THIKG   IS  JUST.  405 

Mordacks  answered  without  dismay.  "  Molly,  conduct  this 
good  lady  to  her  room.  Light  a  good  fire,  as  the  commis- 
sioners have  ordered  ;  warm  the  soup  sent  from  the  arsenal 
last  night,  but  be  sure  that  you  put  no  pepper  in  it.  The 
lady  will  go  with  you,  and  follow  our  directions.  She  sees 
the  importance  of  having  all  her  faculties  perfectly  clear 
when  we  make  our  schedule,  as  we  shall  do  in  a  few  hours' 
time,  of  all  the  children  ;  every  one,  with  the  date  of  their 
birth,  and  their  Christian  names,  which  nobody  knows  so 
well  as  their  own  dear  mother.  Ah,  how  very  sweet  it  is 
to  have  so  many  of  them  ;  and  to  know  the  pride,  the 
pleasure,  the  delight,  which  the  nation  feels  in  providing 
for  the  welfare  of  every  little  darling  1" 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

THE     THING     IS     JUST. 

"  WAS  there  ever  such  a  man  1"  said  Mr.  Mordacks  to 
himself,  as  he  rode  back  to  Flamborough  against  the  bitter 
wind,  after  "  fettling' '  the  affairs  of  the  poor  Carroways, 
as  well  as  might  be  for  the  present.  * '  As  if  I  had  not  got 
my  hands  too  full  already,  now  I  am  in  for  another  plague- 
some business,  which  will  cost  a  lot  of  money  instead  of 
bringing  money  in.  How  many  people  have  I  now  to  look 
after  ?  In  the  first  place,  two  vile  wretches — Rickou 
Goold,  the  ship-scuttler,  and  John  Cadinan,  the  murderer — 
supposing  that  Dr.  Upandown  and  Mrs.  Carroway  are 
right.  Then  two  drunken  tars,  with  one  leg  between  them, 
who  may  get  scared  of  the  law  and  cut  and  run.  Then  an 
outlawed  smuggler,  who  has  cut  and  run  already  ;  and  u 
gentleman  from  India,  who  will  be  wild  with  disappoint- 
ment through  the  things  that  have  happened  since  I  saw 
him  last.  After  that  a  lawyer,  who  will  fight  tooth  and 
nail  of  course,  because  it  brings  grist  to  his  mill.  That 
makes  seven  ;  and  now  to  all  these  I  have  added  number 
eight,  and  that  the  worst  of  all — not  only  a  woman,  but  a 
downright  mad  one,  as  well  as  seven  starving  children. 


406  MARY  ANERLEY. 

Charity  is  a  thing  that  pays  so  slowly  !  That  this  poor 
creature  should  lose  her  head  just  now  is  most  unfortunate. 
I  have  nothing  whatever  to  lay  before  Sir  Duncan,  when  I 
tell  him  of  this  vile  catastrophe,  except  the  boy's  own  asser- 
tion, and  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Upandown.  Well,  well, 
'  faint  heart,  etc.' — I  must  nurse  the  people  round  ;  with- 
out me  they  would  all.  have  been  dead  ;  virtue  is  its  own  re- 
ward. I  hope  the  old  lady  has  not  burned  my  hare  to 
death. " 

The  factor  might  well  say  that  without  his  aid  that  large 
family  must  have  perished.  Their  neighbors  were  not  to 
be  blamed  for  this,  being  locked  out  of  tho  house,  and  hav- 
ing no  knowledge  of  the  frost  and  famine  that  prevailed 
within.  Perhaps,  when  the  little  ones  began  to  die,  Geral- 
dine  might  have  escaped  from  a  window,  and  got  help  in 
time  to  save  some  of  them,  if  she  herself  had  any  strength 
remaining  ;  but  as  it  was,  she  preferred  to  sacrifice  herself, 
and  obey  her  mother.  "  Father  always  told  me,"  she  had 
said  to  Mr.  Mordacks,  when  he  asked  her  how  so  sharp  a 
child  could  let  things  come  to  such  a  pitch,  "  that  when  he 
was  out  of  the  way,  the  first  thing  I  was  to  mind  always  was 
to  do  what  mother  told  me  ;  and  now  he  can't  come  back 
no  more,  to  let  me  off  from  doing  it. ' ' 

By  this  time  the  "  Cod  with  the  Hook  in  his  Gills"  was 
as  much  at  the  mercy  of  Mr.  Mordacks  as  if  he  had  landed 
and  were  crimping  him.  Widow  Precious  was  a  very 
tough  lady  to  get  over,  and  she  liked  to  think  the  worst 
she  could  of  everybody — which  proves  in  the  end  the  most 
charitable  course,  because  of  the  good-will  produced  by  ex- 
planation— and  for  some  time  she  had  stood  in  the  Flam- 
burian  attitude  of  doubt  toward  the  factor.  But  even  a 
Flamburian  may  at  last  be  pierced  ;  and  then  (as  with  other 
pachydermatous  animals),  the  hole  once  made  is  almost 
certain  to  grow  larger.  So  by  dint  of  good  offices  here  and 
there,  kind  interest  and  great  industry  among  a  very  simple 
and  grateful  race,  he  became  the  St.  Oswald  of  that  ancient 
shrine  (as  already  has  been  hinted),  and  might  do  as  he  liked, 
even  on  the  Sabbath-day.  And  as  one  of  the  first  things 
he  always  liked  to  do  was  to  enter  into  everybody's  business, 
he  got  into  an  intricacy  of  little  knowledge,  too  manifold 


THE   THING   IS  JUST.  407 

even  for  his  many-fibred  brain.  But  some  of  this  ran  into 
and  strengthened  his  main  clew,  leading  into  the  story  he 
was  laboring  to  explore,  and  laying  before  him,  as  bright 
as  a  diamond,  even  the  mystery  of  ear-rings. 

"  My  highly  valued  hostess  and  admirable  cook, "  he  said 
to  Widow  Precious,  after  making  noble  dinner,  which  his 
long  snowy  ride  and  work  at  Bridlington  had  earned,  l  i  in 
your  knowledge  of  the  annals  of  this  interesting  town,  hap- 
pen you  to  be  able  to  recall  the  name  of  a  certain  man,  John 
Cadman?" 

"  Ah,  that  ah  deah,"  Wklow  Tapsy  answered,  with  a 
heavy  sigh,  whigh  rattled  all  the  dishes  on  the  waiter  ;  "  and 
sma'  gude  o'  un,  sma'  gude,  whativer.  Geroot  wi'  un  !" 

The  landlady  shut  her  firm  lips  with  a  smack, which  Mor- 
dacks  well  knew  by  this  time,  though  seldom  foreclosed  by 
it  now,  as  he  had  been,  before  he  became  a  Danish  citizen. 
He  was  sure  that  she  had  some  good  reason  for  her  si- 
lence ;  and  the  next  day  he  found  that  the  girl  who  had  left 
her  home,  through  Cadman 's  villainy,  was  akin  by  her 
mother's  side  to  Mistress  Precious.  But  he  had  another 
matter  to  discuss  with  her  now,  which  caused  him  some 
misgivings,  yet  had  better  be  faced  manfully.  In  the  safe 
philosophical  distance  of  York  from  this  strong  landlady, 
he  had  (for  good  reasons  of  his  own)  appointed  the  place 
of  meeting  with  Sir  Duncan  Yordas  at  the  rival  hostelry, 
the  inn  of  Thornwick.  Widow  Precious  had  a  mind  of 
uncommonly  large  type,  so  lofty  and  pure  of  all  petty  emo- 
tions, that  if  any  one  spoke  of  the  Thornwick  Inn,  even 
upon  her  back  premises,  her  dignity  stepped  in  and  said, 
"  I  can't  abide  the  stinkin'  naam  o'  un." 

Of  this  persistently  noble  regard  of  a  lower  institution 
Mr.  Mordacks  was  well  aware  ;  and  it  gave  him  pause,  in 
his  deep  anxiety  to  spare  a  tender  heart,  and  maintain  the 
high  standard  of  his  breakfast  kidneys.  "  Madam,"  he 
began,  and  then  he  rubbed  his  mouth  with  the  cross-cut 
out  of  the  jack-towel  by  the  sink,  newly  set  on  table,  to 
satisfy  him,  for  a  dinner  napkin — "  madam,  will  you  listen 
while  I  make  an  explanation  ?" 

The  landlady  looked  at  him  with  dark  suspicions  gather- 
ing. 


408  MAKY  ASTERLEY. 

"  Joost  spak'  oot,"  she  said,  "  whativer's  woorkin'  i' 
tliali  mahrid." 

"  I  am  bound  to  meet  a  gentleman  near  Flamborougli 
to-morrow,77  Mr.  Mordacks  continued,  with  the  effrontery 
of  guilt,  u  \vho  will  come  from  the  sea.  And  as  it  would 
not  suit  him  to  walk  far  inland,  he  has  arranged  for  the  in- 
terview at  a  poor  little  place  called  the  Thorny  Wick,  or 
the  Stubby  Wick,  or  something  of  that  sort.  I  thought  it 
was  due  to  you,  madam,  to  explain  the  reason  of  my  enter- 
ing, even  for  a  moment — " 

"  Ah  dawn't  care.  Sitha— they  mah  fettle  thec  there,  if 
thow '  s  f ondhead  ene w. ' '  • 

Without  another  word  she  left  the  room,  clattering  her 
heavy  shoes  at  the  door  ;  and  Mordacks  foresaw  a  sad  en- 
counter on  the  morrow,  without  a  good  breakfast  to  i 4  fet- 
tle" him  for  it.  It  was  not  in  his  nature  to  dread  any- 
thing much,  and  he  could  not  see  where  he  had  been  at  all 
to  blame  ;  but  gladly  would  he  have  taken  ten  per  cent  off 
his  old  contract,  than  meet  Sir  Duncan  Yordas  with  the 
news  he  had  to  tell  him. 

One  cause  of  the  righteous  indignation  felt  by  the  good 
Mother  Tapsy,  was  her  knowledge  that  nobody  could  land 
just  now  in  any  cove  under  the  Thorn  wick  Hotel.  With 
the  turbulent  snow-wind  bringing  in  the  sea,  as  now  it  had 
been  doing  for  several  days,  even  the  fishermen's  cobles 
could  not  take  the  beach,  much  less  any  stranger  craft. 
Mr.  Mordacks  was  sharp  ;  but  an  inland  factor  is  apt  to 
overlook  such  little  facts  marine. 

Upon  the  following  day  he  stood  in  the  best  room  of  the 
Thornwick  Inn — which  even  then  was  a  very  decent  place 
to  any  eyes  uncast  with  envy — and  he  saw  the  long  billows 
of  the  ocean  rolling  before  the  steady  blowing  of  the  salt- 
tongued  wind,  and  the  broad  white  valleys  that  between 
them  lay,  and  the  vaporous  generation  of  great  waves.  They 
seemed  to  have  little  gift  of  power  for  themselves,  and  no 
sign  of  any  heed  of  purport  ;  only  to  keep  at  proper  dis- 
tance from  each  other,  and  threaten  to  break  over,  long  be- 
fore they  meant  to  do  it.  But  to  see  what  they  did  at  the 
first  opposition  of  reef,  or  crag,  or  headland  bluff,  was  a 
cure  for  any  delusion  about  them,  or  faith  in  their  liquid 


THE   THING   IS  JUST.  409 

benevolence.  For  spouts  of  wild  fury  dashed  up  into  the 
clouds  ;  and  the  shore,  wherever  any  sight  of  it  was  left, 
weltered  in  a  sadly  f rothsome  state,  like  the  chin  of  a  Titan 
with  a  lather-brush  at  work. 

"  Why,  bless  my  heart  !"  cried  the  keen-eyed  Mor- 
dacks  ;  "  this  is  a  check  I  never  thought  of.  Nobody 
could  land  in  such  a  surf  as  that,  even  if  he  had  conquered 
all  India.  Landlord,  do  you  mean  to  tell  me  any  one  could 
land  ?  And  if  not,  what's  the  use  of  your  inn  standing 
here  ?" 

"  Naw,  sir,  nawbody  cud  laun'  joost  neaw.  Lee-ast  waas, 
nut  to  ca'  fur  naw  yell  to  dry  hissen." 

The  landlord  was  pleased  with  his  own  wit — perhaps  by 
reason  of  its  scarcity — and  went  out  to  tell  it  in  the  tap- 
room while  fresh  ;  and  Mordacks  had  made  up  his  mind  to 
call  for  something — for  the  good  of  the  house  and  himself 
— and  return  with  a  sense  of  escape  to  his  own  inn,  when 
the  rough  frozen  road  rang  with  vehement  iron,  and  a  horse 
was  pulled  up,  and  a  man  strode  in.  The  landlord  having 
told  his  own  joke  three  times,  came  out  with  the  taste  of  it 
upon  his  lips  ;  but  the  stern  dark  eyes  looking  down  into 
his  turned  his  smile  into  a  frightened  stare.  He  had  so 
much  to  think  of  that  he  could  not  speak — which  happens 
not  only  at  Flamborough — but  his  visitor  did  not  wait  for 
the  solution  of  his  mental  stutter.  Without  any  rudeness 
he  passed  the  mooning  host,  and  walked  into  the  parlor, 
where  he  hoped  to  find  two  persons. 

Instead  of  two  he  found  one  only,  and  that  one  standing 
with  his  back  to  the  door,  and  by  the  snow-flecked  window, 
intent  upon  the  drizzly  distance  of  the  wind-struck  sea. 
The  attitude  and  fixed  regard  were  so  unlike  the  usual  vi- 
vacity of  Mordacks,  that  the  visitor  thought  there  must  be 
some  mistake,  till  the  other  turned  round  and  looked  at 
him. 

"  You  see  a  defeated  but  not  a  beaten  man,"  said  the 
factor,  to  get  through  the  worst  of  it.  "  Thank  you,  Sir 
Duncan,  I  will  not  shake  hands.  My  ambition  was  to  do 
so,  and  to  put  into  yours  another  hand  more  near  and  dear  to 
it.  Sir,  I  have  failed.  It  is  open  to  you  to  call  me  by  any 
hard  name  that  may  occur  to  you.  That  will  do  you  good, 


410  MARY   AKERLEY. 

be  a  hearty  relief,  and  restore  me  rapidly  to  self-respect, 
by  arousing  ray  anxiety  to  vindicate  myself. " 

4 *  It  is  no  time  for  joking  ;  I  came  here  to  meet  my  son. 
Have  you  found  him,  or  have  you  not  ?" 

Sir  Duncan  sat  down  and  gazed  steadfastly  at  Mordacks. 
His  self-command  had  borne  many  hard  trials  ;  but  the 
prime  of  his  life  was  over  now  ;  and  strong  as  he  looked, 
and  thought  himself,  the  searching  wind  had  sought  and 
found  weak  places  in  a  sun-beaten  frame.  But  no  man 
would  be  of  noble  aspect  by  dwelling  at  all  upon  himself. 

The  quick  intelligence  of  Mordacks — who  was  of  smaller 
though  admirabe  type — entered  into  these  things  at  a  flash. 
And  throughout  their  interview  he  thought  less  of  himself 
and  more  of  another  than  was  at  all  habitual  with  him,  or 
conducive  to  good  work. 

"  You  must  bear  with  a  very  heavy  blow,"  he  said  ; 
"  and  it  goes  to  my  heart  to  have  to  deal  it." 

Sir  Duncan  Yordas  bowed  and  said,  ' '  The  sooner  the 
better,  my  good  friend." 

"  I  have  found  your  son,  as  I  promised  you  I  would," 
replied  Mordacks,  speaking  rapidly  ;  "  healthy,  active,  un- 
commonly clever  ;  a  very  fine  sailor,  and  as  brave  as  Nel- 
son ;  of  gallant  appearance — as  might  be  expected  ;  enter- 
prising, steadfast,  respected,  and  admired  ;  benevolent  in 
private  life,  and  a  public  benefactor.  A  youth  of  whom  the 
most  distinguished  father  might  be  proud.  But — but — " 

1  'Will  you  never  finish?" 

"  But,  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  over  which  he  had 
no  control,  he  became  in  early  days  a  smuggler,  and  rose  to 
an  eminent  rank  in  that  profession." 

"  I  do  not  care  two  pice  for  that  ;  though  I  should  have 
been  sorry  if  he  had  not  risen." 

"  He  rose  to  such  eminence  as  to  become  the  High  Ad- 
miral of  smugglers  on  this  coast,  and  attain  the  honors  of 
outlawry. ' ' 

"  I  look  upon  that  as  a  pity.  But  still  we  may  be  able 
to  rescind  it.  Is  there  anything  more  against  my  son  ?" 

*'  Unluckily  there  is.  A  commander  of  the  Coast-guard 
has  been  killed  in  discharge  of  his  duty  ;  and  Robin 
Lyth  has  left  the  country  to  escape  a  warrant. ' ' 


THE  THING   IS   JUST.  411 

"  What  have  we  to  do  with  Robin  Lyth  ?  I  have  heard 
of  him  everywhere — a  villain  and  a  murderer. " 

44  God  forbid  that  you  should  say  so  !  Robin  Lyth  is 
your  only  son.'7 

The  man  whose  word  was  law  to  myriads  rose  without  a 
word  for  his  own  case  ;  he  looked  at  his  agent  with  a  stern, 
calm  gaze,  and  not  a  sign  of  trembling  in  his  tall  broad 
frame,  unless,  perhaps,  his  under  lip  gave  a  little  soft  vibra- 
tion to  the  grizzled  beard  grown  to  meet  the  change  of  cli- 
mate. 

44  Unhappily  so  it  is,"  said  Mordacks,  firmly  meeting 
Sir  Duncan's  eyes.  "  I  have  proved  the  matter  beyond 
dispute  ;  and  I  wish  I  had  better  news  for  you." 

44  I  thank  you,  sir.  You  could  not  well  have  worse.  I 
believe  it  upon  your  word  alone.  No  Yordas  ever  yet  had 
pleasure  of  a  son.  The  thing  is  quite  just.  I  will  order 
my  horse." 

44  Sir  Duncan,  allow  me  a  few  minutes  first.  You  are  a 
man  of  large  judicial  mind.  Do  you  ever  condemn  any 
stranger  upon  rumor  ?  And  will  you  upon  that  condemn 
your  son  ?" 

44  Certainly  not.  I  proceed  upon  my  knowledge  of  the 
fate  between  father  and  son  in  our  race." 

44  That  generally  has  been  the  father's  fault.  In  this 
case  you  are  the  father." 

Sir  Duncan  turned  back,  being  struck  with  this  remark. 
Then  he  sat  down  again;  which  his  ancestors  had  always 
refused  to  do,  and  had  rued  it.  His  nature  was  as  rugged 
as  theirs  ;  but  hardship,  self-discipline,  and  knowledge  of 
the  world  had  shaped  it.  And  he  spoke  very  gently,  with 
a  sad  faint  smile. 

44  I  scarcely  see  how,  in  the  present  case,  the  fault  can 
be  upon  the  father's  side." 

44  Not  as  yet,  I  grant  you.  But  it  would  be  so  if  the 
father  refused  to  hear  out  the  matter,  and  joined  in  the 
general  outcry  against  his  son,  without  even  having  seen 
him,  or  afforded  him  a  chance  of  self-defence." 

44  I  am  not  so  unjust  or  unnatural  as  that,  sir.  I  have 
heard  much  about  this — sad  occurrence  in  the  cave.  There 
can  be  no  question  that  the  smugglers  slew  the  officer.  That 


412  MARY   A1STERLEY. 

— that  very  unfortunate  young  man  may  not  have  done  it 
himself — I  trust  in  God  that  he  did  not  even  mean  it. 
Nevertheless,  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  if  he  were  present,  ho- 
is as  guilty  as  if  his  own  hand  did  it.  Can  you  contend 
that  he  was  not  present  ?" 

"  Unhappily,  I  cannot.  He  himself  admits  it  ;  and  if 
he  did  not,  it  could  be  proved  most  clearly. " 

11  Then  all  that  I  can  do,"  said  Sir  Duncan,  rising  with 
a  heavy  sigh,  and  a  violent  shiver  caused  by  the  chill  of  his 
long  bleak  ride,  "  is  first  to  require  your  proofs,  Mr.  Mor- 
dacks,  as  to  the  identity  of  my  child  who  sailed  from  India 
with  this — 'this  unfortunate  youth  ;  then  to  give  you  a 
check  for  £5000,  and  thank  you  for  skilful  offices,  and 
great  confidence  in  my  honor.  Then  I  shall  leave  with  you 
what  sum  you  may  think  needful  for  the  defence,  if  he  is 
ever  brought  to  trial.  And  probably  after  that — well,  I 
shall  even  go  back  to  end  my  life  in  India.  Most  English- 
men like  to  come  home  to  do  it.  But  for  me,  there  is  no 
temptation  now." 

"  My  proofs  are  not  arranged  yet,  but  they  will  satisfy 
you.  I  shall  take  no  £5000  from  you,  Sir  Duncan,  though, 
strictly  speaking,  I  have  earned  it.  But  I  will  take  one 
thousand  to  cover  past  and  future  outlay,  including  the 
possibility  of  a  trial.  The  balance  I  shall  live  to  claim  yet, 
I  do  believe,  and  you  to  discharge  it  with  great  pleasure. 
For  that  will  not  be,  until  I  bring  you  a'  son,  not  only 
acquitted,  but  also  guiltless  ;  as  I  have  good  reason  for 
believing  him  to  be.  But  you  do  not  look  well  ;  let  me 
call  for  something. ' ' 

"  No,  thank  you.  It  is  nothing.  I  am  quite  well,  but 
not  quite  seasoned  to  my  native  climate  yet.  Tell  me  your 
reasons  for  believing  that." 

"  I  cannot  do  that  in  a  moment.'  You  know  what  evi- 
dence is  a  hundred  times  as  well  as  I  do.  And  in  this  cold 
room  you  must  not  stop.  Sir  Duncan,  I  am  not  a  coddler 
any  more  than  you  are.  And  I  do  not  presume  to  dictate 
to  you.  But  I  am  as  resolute  a  man  as  yourself.  And  I 
refuse  to  go  farther  with  this  subject,  until  you  are 
thoroughly  warmed  and  refreshed." 

"  Mordacks,  you  shall  have  yourway,"  said  his  visitor, 


STUMPED   OUT.  413 

after  a  heavy  frown,  which  produced  no  effect  upon  the 
factor.  "  You  are  as  kind-hearted  as  you  are  shrewd. 
Tell  me  once  more  what  your  conviction  is  ;  and  I  will  wait 
for  your  reasons,  till — till  you  are  ready. " 

"  Then,  sir,  my  settled  conviction  is  that  your  son  is 
purely  innocent  of  this  crime,  and  that  we  shall  be  able  to 
establish  that." 

"  God  bless  you  for  thinking  so,  my  dear  friend.  I  can 
bear  a  great  deal  ;  and  I  would  do  my  duty.  But  I  did 
love  that  boy's  mother  so. " 

The  general  factor  always  understood  his  business  ;  and 
he  knew  that  no  part  of  it  compelled  him  now  to  keep 
watch  upon  the  eyes  of  a  stern,  proud  man. 

u  Sir,  I  am  your  agent,  and  I  magnify  mine  office, "  he 
said,  as  he  took  up  his  hat  to  go  forth.  "  One  branch  of 
my  duty  is  to  fettle  your  horse  ;  and  in  Flamborough  they 
fettle  them  on  stale  fish."  Mr.  Mordacks  strode  with  a 
military  tramp,  and  a  loud  shout  for  the  landlord,  who 
had  finished  his  joke  by  this  time,  and  was  paying  the 
penalties  of  reaction.  "  Gil  Beilby,  thoo'st  nobbut  a 
fondhead,"  he  was  saying  to  himself.  "  Thoo  mun  hev 
thy  lahtel  jawk,  thof  it  crack'th  thy  own  pure  back." 
For  he  thought  that  he  was  driving  two  great  customers 
away,  by  the  flashing  independence  of  too  brilliant  a  mind  ; 
and  many  clever  people  of  his  native  place  had  told  him 
so.  il  Make  a  roaring  fire  in  that  room,"  said  Mordacks. 


CHAPTER    XLVL 

STUMPED      OUT. 

"  I  THINK,  my  dear,  that  you  never  should  allow  mysteri- 
ous things  to  be  doing  in  your  parish,  and  everybody  full 
of  curiosity  about  them,  while  the  only  proper  person  to 
explain  their  meaning  is  allowed  to  remain  without  any 
more  knowledge  than  a  man  locked  up  in  York  Castle 
might  have.  In  spite  of  all  the  weather,  and  the  noise  the 
sea  makes,  I  feel  quite  certain  that  important  things,  which 


414  MARY   AISTERLEY. 

never  have  any  right  to  happen  in  onr  parish,  are  going  on 
here,  and  you  never  interfere  ;  which  on  the  part  of  the 
rector,  and  the  magistrate  of  the  neighborhood,  to  my 
mind  is  not  a  proper  course  of  action.  I  am  sure  that  I 
have  not  the  very  smallest  curiosity  ;  I  feel  very  often  that 
I  should  have  asked  questions,  when  it  has  become  too  late 
to  do  so,  and  when  anybody  else  would  have  put  them  at 
the  moment,  and  not  had  to  be  sorry  afterward." 

"  I  understand  that  feeling,'7  Dr. TJpround  answered,  look- 
ing at  his  wife  for  the  third  cup  of  coffee  to  wind  up  his 
breakfast  as  usual,  "  and  without  hesitation  I  reply  that  it 
naturally  arises  in  superior  natures.  Janetta,  you  have  eaten 
up  that  bit  of  broiled  hake  that  I  was  keeping  for  your 
dear  mother  !" 

i '  Now  really,  papa,  you  are  too  crafty.  You  put  my 
mother  off  with  a  wretched  generality,  because  you  don't 
choose  to  tell  her  anything  ;  and  to  stop  me  from  coming 
to  the  rescue,  you  attack  me  with  a  miserable  little  person- 
ality. I  perceive  by  your  face,  papa,  every  trick  that  rises  ; 
and  without  hesitation  I  reply  that  they  naturally  arise  in 
inferior  natures." 

u  Janetta,  you  never  express  yourself  well."  Mrs.  Up-, 
round  insisted  upon  filial  respect.  "  When  I  say  '  well/ 
I  mean —  Well,  well,  well,  you  know  quite  well  what  I 
mean,  Janetta." 

"  To  be  sure,  mamma,  I  always  do.  You  always  mean 
the  very  best  meaning  in  the  world  ;  but  you  are  not  up  to 
half  of  papa's  tricks  yet." 

"  This  is  too  bad  !"  cried  the  father,  with  a  smile. 

tl  A  great  deal  too  bad  !"  said  the  mother,  with  a  frown. 
"  I  am  sure  I  would  never  have  asked  a  word  of  anything, 
if  I  could  ever  have  imagined  such  behavior.  Go  away, 
Janetta,  this  very  moment  ;  your  dear  father  evidently 
wants  to  tell  me  something.  Now,  my  dear,  you  were  too 
sleepy  last  night  ;  but  your  peace  of  mind  requires  you  to 
unburden  itself  at  once  of  all  these  very  mysterious  goings 
on." 

"  Well,  perhaps  I  shall  have  no  peace  of  mind  unless  I 
do,"  said  the  rector,  with  a  slight  sarcasm,  which  missed 
her  altogether  ;  "  only  it  might  save  trouble,  my  dear,  if 


STUMPED   OUT.  415 

you  would  first  specify  the  points  which  oppress  your — or 
rather  I  should  say,  perhaps,  my  mind  so  much." 

"  In  the  first  place,  then,"  began  Mrs.  Upround,  drawing 
nearer  to  the  doctor,  "  who  is  that  highly  distinguished 
stranger  who  cannot  get  away  from  the  Thornwick  Inn  ? 
What  made  him  come  to  such  a  place  in  dreadful  weather  ; 
and  if  he  is  ill,  why  not  send  for  Dr.  Stirbacks  ?  Dr.  Stir- 
backs  will  think  it  most  unkind  of  you  ;  and  after  all  he 
did  for  dear  Janetta  !  And  then,  again,  what  did  the  milk- 
man from  Sewerby  mean  by  the  way  he  shook  his  head  this 
morning,  about  something  in  the  family  at  Anerley  Farm  ? 
And  what  did  that  most  unaccountable  man,  who  calls  him- 
self Mr.  Mordacks — though  I  don't  believe  that  is  his  name 
at  all— " 

"  Yes,  it  is,  my  dear  ;  you  never  should  say  such  things. 
He  is  well  known  at  York,  and  for  miles  around  ;  and  I 
entertain  very  high  respect  for  him." 

"  So  you  may,  Dr.  Upround.  You  do  that  too  freely  ; 
but  Janetta  quite  agrees  with  me  about  him.  A  man  with 
a  sword,  that  goes  slashing  about,  and  kills  a  rat,  that  was 
none  of  his  business  !  A  more  straightforward  creature  than 
himself,  I  do  believe,  though  he  struts  like  a  soldier  with  a 
ramrod,  And  what  did  he  mean,  in  such  horrible  weather, 
by  dragging  you  out  to  take  a  deposition  in  a  place  even 
colder  than  Flamborough  itself — that  vile  rabbit-warren  on 
the  other  side  of  Bempton  ?  Deposition  of  a  man  who 
had  drunk  himself  to  death — and  a  Methodist  too,  as  you 
could  not  help  saying." 

"  I  said  it,  I  know  ;  and  I  am  ashamed  of  saying  it.  I 
was  miserably  cold,  and  much  annoyed  about  my  coat." 

"  You  never  say  anything  to  be  ashamed  of.  It  is  when 
you  do  not  say  things  that  you  should  rather  blame  your- 
self. For  instance,  I  feel  no  curiosity  whatever,  but  a  kind- 
hearted  interest  in  the  doings  of  my  neighbors.  We  very 
seldom  get  any  sort  of  excitement  ;  and  when  exciting 
things  come  all  together,  quite  within  the  hearing  of  our 
stable  bell,  to  be  left  to  guess  them  out,  and  perhaps  be 
contradicted,  destroys  one's  finest  feelings,  and  produces 
downright  fidgets. ' ' 


416  MARY   ANERLEY. 

"  My  dear,  my  dear,  you  really  should  endeavor  to 
emancipate  yourself  from  such  small  ideas." 

"  Large  words  shall  never  divert  me  from  my  duty.  My 
path  of  duty  is  distinctly  traced  ;  and  if  a  thwarting  hand 
withdraws  me  from  it,  it  must  end  in  a  bilious  headache." 

This  was  a  terrible  menace  to  the  household,  which  was 
always  thrown  out  of  its  course  for  three  days  when  the 
lady  became  thus  afflicted. 

"  My  first  duty  is  to  my  wife,"  said  the  rector.  "  If 
people  come  into  my  parish  with  secrets,  which  come  to 
my  knowledge  without  my  desire,  and  without  official  obli- 
gation, and  the  faithful  and  admirable  partner  of  my  life 
threatens  to  be  quite  unwell — ' ' 

"  111,  dear,  very  ill — is  what  would  happen  to  me." 

k<  Then  I  consider  that  my  duty  is  to  impart  to  her 
everything  that  cannot  lead  to  mischief. ' ' 

"  How  could  you  have  any  doubt  of  it,  my  dear  ?  And 
as  to  the  mischief,  I  am  the  proper  judge  of  that." 

Dr.  Upround  laughed  in  his  quiet  inner  way  ;  and  then, 
as  a  matter  of  form,  he  said,  "  My  dear,  you  must  promise 
most  faithfully  to  keep  whatever  I  tell  you  as  the  very 
strictest  secrete ' ' 

Mrs.  Upround  looked  shocked  at  the  mere  idea  of  her 
ever  doing  otherwise  ;  which  indeed,  as  she  said,  was  im- 
possible. Her  husband  very  nearly  looked  as  if  he  quite 
believed  her  ;  and  then  they  went  into  his  snug  sitting- 
room,  while  the  maid  took  away  the  breakfast  things. 

"  Now  don't  keep  me  waiting,"  said  the  lady. 

44  Well,  then,  my  dear,"  the  rector  began,  after  crossing 
stout  legs  stoutly,  "  you  must  do  your  utmost  not  to  inter- 
rupt me,  and  in  short — to  put  it  courteously — you  must  try 
to  hold  your  tongue,  and  suffer  much  astonishment  in 
silence.  We  have  a  most  distinguished  visitor  in  Flam- 
borough  setting  up  his  staff  at  the  Thornwick  Hotel." 

44  Lord  Nelson  !  I  knew  it  must  be.  Janetta  is  so  quick 
at  things." 

"  Janetta  is  too  quick  at  things  ;  and  she  is  utterly  crazy 
about  Nelson.  No  ;  it  is  the  famous  Sir  Duncan  Yordas. " 

"  Sir  Duncan  Yordas  !     Why,  I  never  heard  of  him." 

44  You  will  find  that  you  have  heard  of  him  when  you 


STUMPED   OUT.  417 

come  to  think,  my  dear.  Our  Harry  is  full  of  his  wonder- 
ful doings.  He  is  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  India,  though 
perhaps  little  heard  of  in  this  country  yet.  He  belongs  to 
an  ancient  Yorkshire  family,  and  is,  I  believe,  the  head  of 
it.  He  came  here  looking  for  his  son,  but  has  caught  a 
most  terrible  chill,  instead  of  him  ;  and  I  think  we  ought 
to  send  him  some  of  your  rare  soup." 

"  How  sensible  you  are  !  It  will  be  the  very  thing. 
But  first  of  all,  what  character  does  he  bear  ?  They  do 
such  things  in  India. ' ' 

"  His  character  is  spotless  ;  I  might  say  too  romantic. 
He  is  a  man  of  magnificent  appearance,  large  mind,  and 
lots  of  money. ' ' 

"  My  dear,  my  dear,  he  must  never  stay  there.  I  shud- 
der to  think  of  it,  this  weather.  A  chill  is  a  thing  upon 
the  kidneys  always.  You  know  my  electuary  ;  and  if  we 
bring  him  round,  it  is  high  time  for  Janetta  to  begin  to 
think  of  settling. ' ' 

"  My  dear,"  said  Dr.  Upround  ;  "  well,  how  suddenly 
you  jump  !  I  must  put  on  my  spectacles  to  look  at  you. 
This  gentleman  must  be  getting  on  for  fifty  !" 

"  Janetta  should  have  a  man  of  some  discretion,  some- 
body she  would  not  dare  to  snap  at.  Her  expressions  are 
so  reckless,  that  a  young  man  would  not  suit  her.  She 
ought  to  have  some  one  to  look  up  to  ;  and  you  know  how 
she  raves  about  fame,  and  celebrity,  and  that.  She  really 
seems  to  care  for  very  little  else." 

* '  Then  she  ought  to  have  fallen  in  love  with  Kobin  Ly th, 
the  most  famous  man  in  all  this  neighborhood." 

"  Dr.  Upround,  you  say  things  on  purpose  to  provoke 
me  when  my  remarks  are  unanswerable.  Kobin  Lyth  in- 
deed !  A  sailor,  a  smuggler,  a  common  working-man  ! 
And  under  that  terrible  accusation  !" 

"  An  objectionable  party  altogether,  not  even  desirable 
as  a  grandson.  Therefore  say  nothing  more  of  Janetta  and 
Sir  Duncan." 

*'  Sometimes,  my  dear,  the  chief  object  of  your  existence 
seems  to  be  to  irritate  me.  What  can  poor  Robin  have  to 
do  with  Sir  Duncan  Yordas  ?" 

"  Simply  this.     He  is  his  only  son.     The  proofs  were 

27 


418  MARY   ANEKLEY. 

completed,  and  deposited  with  me  for  safe  custody,  last 
night,  by  that  very  active  man  of  business,  Geoffrey  Mor- 
dacks,  of  York  city." 

"  Well  !"  cried  Mrs.  Upround,  with  both  hands  lifted, 
and  a  high  color  flowing  into  her  unwrinkled  cheeks  ; 
"  from  this  day  forth  I  shall  never  have  any  confidence  in 
you  again.  How  long — if  I  may  dare  to  put  any  sort  of 
question — have  you  been  getting  into  all  this  very  secret 
knowledge  ?  And  why  have  I  never  heard  a  word  of  it  till 
now  ?  And  not  even  now,  I  do  believe,  through  any  prop- 
er urgency  of  conscience  on  your  part,  but  only  because  I 
insisted  upon  knowing.  Oh,  Dr.  Upround,  for  shame  ! 
for  shame  !" 

* i  My  dear,  you  have  no  one  but  yourself  to  blame, ' '  her 
husband  replied,  with  a  sweet  and  placid  smile.  "  Three 
times  I  have  told  you  things  that  were  to  go  no  further, 
and  all  three  of  them  went  twenty  miles  within  three  days. 
I  do  not  complain  of  it  ;  far  less  of  you.  You  may  have 
felt  it  quite  as  much  your  duty  to  spread  knowledge  as  I 
felt  it  mine  to  restrict  it.  And  I  never  should  have  let  you 
get  all  this  out  of  me  now,  if  it  had  been  at  all  incumbent 
upon  me  to  keep  it  quiet. ' ' 

"  That  means  that  I  have  never  got  it  out  of  you  at  all. 
I  have  taken  all  this  trouble  for  nothing. ' ' 

u  No,  my  dear,  not  at  all.  You  have  worked  well,  and 
have  promised  not  to  say  a  word  about  it.  You  might  not 
have  known  it  for  a  week  at  least,  except  for  my  confidence 
in  you." 

li  Much  of  it  I  thank  you  for.  But  don't  be  cross,  my 
dear,  because  you  have  behaved  so  atrociously.  You  have 
not  answered  half  of  my  questions  yet." 

"  Well,  there  were  so  many,  that  I  scarcely  can  remem- 
ber them.  Let  me  sde  :  I  have  told  you  who  the  great 
man  is,  and  the  reason  that  brought  him  to  Flamborough. 
Then  about  the  dangerous  chill  he  has  taken  ;  it  came 
through  a  bitter  ride  from  Scarborough  ;  and  if  Dr.  Stir- 
backs  came,  he  would  probably  make  it  still  more  danger- 
ous. At  least  so  Mordacks  says  ;  and  the  patient  is  in  his 
hands,  and  out  of  mine  ;  so  that  Stirbacks  cannot  be 
aggrieved  with  us.  On  the  other  hand,  as  to  the  milkman 


STUMPED    OUT.  419 

from  Sewerby,  I  really  do  not  know  why  he  shook  his 
head.  Perhaps  he  found  the  big  pump  frozen.  He  is  not 
of  my  parish,  and  may  shake  his  head  without  asking  my 
permission.  Now  I  think  tlmt  I  have  answered  nearly  all 
your  questions. ' ' 

"  Not  at  all  ;  I  have  not  had  time  to  ask  them  yet,  be- 
cause I  feel  so  much  above  them.  But  if  the  milkman 
meant  nothing,  because  of  his  not  belonging  to  our  parish, 
the  butcher  does,  and  he  can  have  no  excuse.  He  says  that 
Mr.  Mordacks  takes  all  the  best  meanings  of  a  mutton- 
sheep  every  other  day  to  Burlington. " 

"  I  know  he  does.  And  it  ought  to  put  us  to  the  blush 
that  a  stranger  should  have  to  do  so.  Mordacks  is  finding 
clothes,  food,  and  firing  for  all  the  little  creatures  poor  Car- 
roway  left,  and  even  for  his  widow,  who  has  got  a  wander- 
ing mind.  Without  him  there  would  not  have  been  one 
left.  The  poor  mother  locked  in  all  her  little  ones,  and 
starved  them,  to  save  them  from  some  quite  imaginary  foe. 
The  neighbors  began  to  think  of  interfering,  and  might 
have  begun  to  do  it  when  it  was  all  over.  Happily,  Mor- 
dacks, arrived  just  in  time.  His  promptitude,  skill,  and 
generosity  saved  them.  Never  say  a  word  against  that  man 
again." 

"  My  dear,  I  will  not,"  Mrs.  Upround  answered,  with 
tears  coming  into  her  kindly  eyes.  "  I  never  heard  of  any- 
thing more  pitiful.  I  had  no  idea  Mr.  Mordacks  was  so 
good.  He  looks  more  like  an  evil  spirit.  I  always  regarded 
him  as  an  evil  spirit ;  and  his  name  sounds  like  it,  and  he 
jumps  about  so.  But  he  ought  to  have  gone  to  the  rector 
of  the  parish." 

"  It  is  a  happy  thing  that  he  can  jump  about.  The  rec- 
tor of  the  parish  cannot  do  so,  as  you  know  ;  and  he  lives 
two  miles  away  from  them,  and  had  never  even  heard  of  it. 
People  always  talk  about  the  rector  of  a  parish,  as  if  lie 
could  be  everywhere  and  see  to  everything.  And  few  of 
them  come  near  him  in  their  prosperous  times.  Have  you 
any  other  questions  to  put  to  ine,  my  dear  ?" 

"  Yes,  a  quantity  of  things  which  I  cannot  think  of  now. 
How  it  was  that  little  boy — I  remember  it  like  yesterday — 
came  ashore  here,  and  turned  out  to  be  Robin  Lyth  ;  or  at 


420  MAHY    ANERLEY. 

least  to  be  no  Robin  Lyth  at  all,  but  the  son  of  Sir  Duncan 
Yordas  ?  And  what  happened  to  the  poor  man  in  Bemp- 
ton  Warren  ?" 

"  The  poor  man  died  a  most  miserable  death,  but  I  trust 
sincerely  penitent.  He  had  led  a  sad,  ungodly  life,  and  he 
died  at  last  of  wooden  legs.  He  was  hunted  to  his  grave, 
he  told  us,  by  these  wooden  legs  ;  and  he  recognized  in 
them  Divine  retribution,  for  the  sin  of  his  life  was  com- 
mitted in  timber.  No  sooner  did  any  of  those  legs  appear 
— and  the  poor  fellow  said  they  were  always  coming — than 
his  heart  began  to  patter,  and  his  own  legs  failed  him,  and 
he  tried  to  stop  his  ears,  but  his  conscience  would  not  let 
him." 

"  Now  there  !"  cried  Mrs.  Upround  ;  "  what  the  power 
of  conscience  is  !  He  had  stolen  choice  timber,  perhaps 
ready-made  legs. ' ' 

u  A  great  deal  worse  than  that,  my  dear  ;  he  had  knocked 
out  a  knot  as  large  as  my  shovel-hat  from  the  side  of  a  ship 
home  bound  from  India,  because  he  was  going  to  be  tried 
for  mutiny  upon  their  arrival  at  Leith  it  was,  I  think.  He 
and  his  partners  had  been  in  irons,  but  unluckily  they  were 
just  released.  The  weather  was  magnificent,  a  lovely  sum- 
mer's night,  soft  fair  breeze,  and  every  one  rejoicing  in  the 
certainty  of  home  within  a  few  short  hours.  And  they 
found  home  that  night,  but  it  was  in  a  better  world. ' ' 

"  You  have  made  me  creep  all  over.  And  you  mean  to 
say  that  a  wretch  like  that  has  any  hope  of  heaven  !  How 
did  he  get  away  himself  3" 

"  Very  easily.  A  little  boat  was  towing  at  the  side. 
There  were  only  three  men  upon  deck,  through  the  beauty 
of  the  weather,  and  two  of  those  were  asleep.  They  bound 
and  gagged  the  waking  one,  lashed  the  wheel,  and  made  off 
in  the  boat  wholly  unperceived.  There  was  Rickon  Goold, 
the  ringleader,  and  four  others,  and  they  brought  away  a 
little  boy  who  was  lying  fast  asleep,  because  one  of  them 
had  been  in  the  service  of  his  father,  and  because  of  the 
value  of  his  Indian  clothes,  which  his  ayah  made  him  wear 
now  in  his  little  cot  for  warmth.  The  scoundrels  took  good 
care  that  none  should  get  away  to  tell  the  tale.  They  saw 
the  poor  Golconda  sink  with  every  soul  on  board,  including 


STUMPED   OUT.  421 

the  captain's  wife  and  babies  ;  then  they  made  for  land, 
and  in  the  morning  fog  were  carried  by  the  tide  toward  oar 
North  Landing.  One  of  them  knew  the  coast  as  well  as 
need  be  ;  but  they  durst  not  land  until  their  story  was  con- 
cocted, and  everything  fitted  in  to  suit  it.  The  sight  of  the 
rising  sun,  scattering  the  fog,  frightened  them,  as  it  well 
might  do  ;  and  they  pulled  into  the  cave,  from  which  I 
always  said,  as  you  may  now  remember,  Robin  must  have 
come — the  cave  which  already  bears  his  name. 

"  Here  they  remained  all  day,  considering  a  plausible 
tale  to  account  for  themselves,  without  making  mention  of 
any  lost  ship,  and  trying  to  remove  every  trace  of  identity 
from  the  boat  they  had  stolen.  They  had  brought  with 
them  food  enough  to  last  three  days,  and  an  anker  of  rum 
from  the  steward's  stores  ;  and  as  they  grew  weary  of  their 
long  confinement,  they  indulged  more  freely  than  wisely  in 
the  consumption  of  tha^t  cordial.  In  a  word,  they  became 
so  tipsy  that  they  frightened  the  little  helpless  boy  ;  and 
when  they  began  to  fight  about  his  gold  buttons,  which 
were  claimed  by  the  fellow  who  had  saved  his  life,  ho 
scrambled  from  the  side  of  the  boat  upon  the  rock,  and  got 
along  a  narrow  ledge,  where  none  of  them  could  follow  him. 
They  tried  to  coax  him  back  ;  but  he  stamped  his  feet,  and 
swore  at  them,  being  sadly  taught  bad  language  by  the 
native  servants,  I  dare  say.  Rickon  Goold  wanted  to  shoot 
him,  for  they  had  got  a  gun  with  them,  and  he  feared  to 
leave  him  there.  But  Sir  Duncan's  former  boatman  would 
not  allow  it  ;  and  at  dark  they  went  away  and  left  him 
there.  And  the  poor  little  fellow,  in  his  dark  despair, 
must  have  been  led  by  the  hand  of  the  Lord  through  cran- 
nies too  narrow  for  a  man  to  pass.  There  is  a  well-known 
land  passage  out  of  that  cave  ;  but  he  must  have  crawled 
out  by  a  smaller  one,  unknown  even  to  our  fishermen,  slant- 
ing up  the  hill,  and  having  outlet  in  the  thicket  near  the 
place  where  the  boats  draw  up.  And  so  he  was  found  by 
Robin  Cockscroft  in  the  morning.  They  had  fed  the  child 
with  biscuits  soaked  in  rum,  which  accounts  for  his  heavy 
sleep,  and  wonderful  exertions,  and  may  have  predisposed 
him  for  a  contraband  career. ' ' 

'  *  And  perhaps  for  the  very  bad  language  which  he  used, ' l 


422  MARY   AKERLEY. 

said  Mrs.  Upround,  thoughtfully.  "  It  is  an  extraordinary 
tale,  my  dear.  But  I  suppose  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  it. 
But  such  a  clever  child  should  have  known  his  own  name. 
Why  did  he  call  himself  '  Izunsabe  '?  " 

"  That  is  another  link  in  the  certainty  of  proof.  On 
board  that  unfortunate  ship,  and  perhaps  even  before  he  left 
India,  he  was  always  called  the  '  Young  Sahib/  and  he  used, 
having  proud  little  ways  of  his  own,  to  shout,  if  anybody 
durst  provoke  him,  l  I'se  young  Sahib,  I'se  young  Sahib  ;' 
which  we  rendered  into  '  Izunsabe.'  But  his  true  name  is 
Wilton  Bart  Yordas,  I  believe,  and  the  initials  can  be  made 
out  upon  his  gold  beads,  Mr.  Mordacks  tells  me,  among 
heathen  texts." 

"  That  seems  rather  shocking  to  good  principles,  my 
dear.  I  trust  that  Sir  Duncan  is  a  Christian  at  least  ;.  or 
he  shall  never  set  foot  in  this  house. ' ' 

u  My  dear,  I  cannot  tell.  How  should  I  know  ?  He 
may  have  lapsed,  of  course,  as  a  good  many  of  them  do, 
from  the  heat  of  the  climate,  and  bad  surroundings.  But 
that  happens  mostly  from  their  marrying  native  women. 
And  this  gentleman  never  has  done  that,  I  do  believe. ' ' 

1 '  They  tell  me  that  he  is  a  very  handsome  man,  and  of 
most  commanding  aspect — the  very  thing  Janetta  likes  so 
much.  But  what  became  of  those  unhappy  sadly  tipsy 
sailors?" 

u  Well,  they  managed  very  cleverly,  and  made  success 
of  tipsiness.  As  soon  as  it  was  dark  that  night,  and  before 
the  child  had  crawled  away,  they  pushed  out  of  the  cave, 
and  let  the  flood-tide  take  them  round  the  Head.  They 
meant  to  have  landed  at  Bridlington  Quay,  with  a  tale  of 
escape  from  a  Frenchman  ;  but  they  found  no  necessity  for 
going  so  far.  A  short-handed  collier  was  lying  in  the 
roads  ;  and  the  skipper,  perceiving  that  they  were  in  liquor, 
thought  it  a  fine  chance,  and  took  some  trouble  to  secure 
them.  They  told  him  that  they  had  been  trying  to  run 
goods,  and  were  chased  by  a  revenue  boat,  and  so  on.  He 
was  only  too  glad  to  be  enabled  to  make  sail,  and  by  dawn 
they  were  under  way  for  the  Thames  ;  and  that  was  the  end 
of  the  Golconda. ' ' 


STUMPED   OUT.  423 

"  What  an  awful  crime  !  But  you  never  mean  to  tell 
me  that  the  Lord  let  those  men  live  and  prosper  ?" 

"  That  subject  is  beyond  our  view,  my  dear.  There  were 
five  of  them,  and  Rickon  Goold  believed  himself  the  last 
of  them.  But  being  very  penitent,  he  might  have  exag- 
gerated. He  said  that  one  was  swallowed  by  a  shark,  at 
least  his  head  was,  and  one  was  hanged  for  stealing  sheep, 
and  one  for  a  bad  sixpence  ;  but  the  fate  of  the  other  (too 
terrible  to  tell  you)  brought  this  man  down  here,  to  be 
looking  at  the  place,  and  to  divide  his  time  between  fasting, 
and  drinking,  and  poaching,  and  discoursing  to  the  thought- 
less. The  women  flocked  to  hear  him  preach,  when  the 
passion  was  upon  him  ;  and  he  used  to  hint  at  awful  sins 
of  his  own,  which  made  him  earnest.  I  hope  that  he  was 
so,  and  I  do  believe  it.  But  the  wooden-legged  sailors,  old 
Joe  and  his  son,  who  seem  to  have  been  employed  by  Mor- 
dacks,  took  him  at  his  own  word  for  a  *  miserable  sinner  ' 
— which,  as  they  told  their  master,  no  respectable  man 
would  call  himself — and  in  the  most  business-like  manner 
they  set  to  to  remove  him  to  a  better  world  ;  and  now  they 
have  succeeded." 

"  Poor  man  !  After  all,  one  must  be  rather  sorry  for 
him.  If  old  Joe  came  stumping  after  me  for  half  an  hour, 
I  should  have  no  interest  in  this  life  left. ' ' 

4 '  My  dear,  they  stumped  after  him  the  whole  day  long, 
and  at  night  they  danced  a  hornpipe  outside  his  hut.  lie 
became  convinced  that  the  Prince,  of  Evil  was  come,  in  that 
naval  style,  to  fetch  him  ;  and  he  drank  everything  he 
could  lay  hands  on,  to  fortify  him  for  the  contest.  The 
end,  as  you  know,  was  extremely  sad  for  him,  but  highly 
satisfactory  to  them,  I  fear.  They  have  signified  their  reso- 
lution to  attend  his  funeral  ;  and  Mordacks  has  said,  with 
unbecoming  levity,  that  if  they  never  were  drunk  before — 
which  seems  to  me  an  almost  romantic  supposition — that 
night  they  shall  be  drunk,  and  no  mistake." 

1 '  All  these  things,  my  dear, ' '  replied  Mrs.  Upround, 
who  was  gifted  with  a  fine  vein  of  moral  reflection,  ' '  are 
not  as  we  might  wish  if  we  ordered  them  ourselves.  But 
still  there  is  this  to  be  said  in  their  favor,  that  they  have  a 
large  tendency  toward  righteousness." 


424  MAKY   AKERLEY, 

CHAPTER   XLVII. 

TANGLE      OF     VEINS. 

HUMAN  resolution,  energy,  experience,  and  reason  in  its 
loftiest  form,  may  fight  against  the  doctor  ;  but  he  beats 
them  all,  maintains  at  least  his  own  vitality,  and  asserts  his 
guineas.  Two  more  resolute  men  than  Mr.  Mordacks  and 
Sir  Duncan  Yordas  could  scarcely  be  found  in  those  resolute 
times.  They  sternly  resolved  to  have  no  sort  of  doctor  ; 
and  yet  within  three  days  they  did  have  one  ;  and,  more 
than  that,  the  very  one  they  had  positively  vowed  to  abstain 
from. 

Dr.  Stirbacks  let  everybody  know  that  he  never  cared 
two  flips  of  his  thumb  for  anybody.  If  anybody  wanted 
him  they  must  come  and  seek  him,  and  be  thankful  if  he 
could  find  time  to  hear  their  nonsense.  For  he  understood 
not  the  system  only,  but  also  the  nature  of  mankind.  The 
people  at  the  Thornwick  did  not  want  him.  Very  good, 
so  much  the  better  for  him  and  for  them  ;  because  the 
more  they  wanted  him,  the  less  would  he  go  near  them. 
Tut  !  tut  !  tut  !  he  said  ;  what  did  he  want  with  crack- 
brained  patients  ? 

All  this  compelled  him,  with  a  very  strong  reluctance,  to 
be  dragged  into  that  very  place  the  very  same  day  ;  and  he 
saw  that  he  was  not  come  an  hour  too  soon.  Sir  Duncan 
was  lying  in  a  bitterly  cold  room,  with  the  fire  gone  out, 
and  the  spark  of  his  life  not  very  far  from  following  it. 
Mr.  Mordacks  was  gone  for  the  day  upon  business,  after 
leaving  strict  orders  that  a  good  fire  must  be  kept,  and 
many  other  things  attended  to.  But  the  chimney  took  to 
smoking,  and  the  patient  to  coughing,  and  the  landlady 
opened  the  window  wide,  and  the  fire  took  flight  into  tne 
upper  air.  Sir  Duncan  hated  nothing  more  than  any  fuss 
about  himself.  He  had  sent  a  man  to  Scarborough  for  a 
little  chest  of  clothes,  for  his  saddle-kit  was  exhausted  ; 
and  having  promised  Mordacks  that  he  would  not  quit  the 
house,  he  had  nothing  to  do  except  to  meditate  and  shiver. 

Gil  Bcilby's  wife  Nell,  coming  up  to  take  orders  for  din- 


A   TANGLE   OF   VEINS.  425 

ner,  "  got  a  dreadful  turn"  from  what  she  saw,  and  ran 
down  exclaiming  that  the  very  best  customer  that  ever  drew 
their  latch  was  dead.  Without  waiting  to  think,  the  land- 
lord sent  a  most  urgent  message  for  Dr.  Stirbacks.  That 
learned  man  happened  to  be  round  the  corner,  although  he 
lived  at  Bempton  ;  he  met  the  messenger,  cast  to  the  winds 
all  sense  of  wrong,  and  rushed  to  the  succor  of  humanity. 

That  night,  when  the  general  factor  returned,  with  the 
hunger  excited  by  feeding  the  hungry,  he  was  met  at  the 
door  by  Dr.  Stirbacks,  saying,  "  Hush,  my  good  sir,"  be- 
fore he  had  time  to  think  of  speaking.  "  You  !"  cried 
Mr.  Mordacks,  having  met  this  gentleman  when  Rick  on 
Goold  was  near  his  last.  "  You  !  Then  it  must  be  bad 
indeed  !" 

"  It  is  bad,  and  it  must  have  been  all  over,  sir,  but  for 
my  being  providentially  at  the  cheese-shop.  I  say  nothing 
to  wound  any  gentleman's  feelings  who  thinks  that  he 
understands  everything  ;  but  our  poor  patient,  with  the 
very  best  meaning,  no  doubt,  has  been  all  but  murdered. ' ' 

"  Dr.  Stirbacks,  you  have  got  him  now,  and  of  course 
you  will  make  the  best  of  him.  Don't  let  him  slip  through 
your  fingers,  doctor  ;  he  is  much  too  good  for  that." 

"  He  shall  not  slip  through  my  fingers,"  said  the  little 
doctor,  with  a  twinkle  of  self-preservation.  "I  have  got 
him,  sir,  and  I  shall  keep  him,  sir  ;  and  you  ought  to  have 
put  him  in  my  hands  long  ago." 

The  sequel  of  this  needs  no  detail.  Dr.  Stirbacks  came 
three  times  a  day  ;  and  without  any  disrespect  to  the  pro- 
fession, it  must  be  admitted  that  he  earned  his  fees.  For 
Sir  Duncan's  case  was  a  very  strange  one,  and  beyond  the 
best  wisdom  of  the  laity.  If  that  chill  had  struck  upon 
him  when  his  spirit  was  as  usual,  he  might  have  cast  it  off, 
and  gone  on  upon  his  business.  But  coming  as  it  did, 
when  the  temperature  of  his  heart  was  lowered,  by  nip  of 
disappointment,  it  went  into  him,  as  water  on  a  duck's 
back  is  not  cast  away  when  his  rump  gland  is  out  of  order. 

"  A  warm  room,  good  victuals,  and  cheerful  society — 
these  three  are  indispensable,"  said  Dr.  Stirbacks  to  Mr. 
Mordacks,  over  whom  he  began  to  try  to  tyrannize  ;  u  and 
admirable  as  you  arc,  my  good  sir,  I  fcarUiatLjyjjiu1  i^i 

OF  THE 


426  MARY   ANERLEY. 

is  depressing.  You  are  always  in  a  fume  to  be  doing 
something — a  stew  I  might  say,  without  exaggeration — a 
wonderful  pattern  of  an  active  mind.  But  in  a  case  of  ill- 
ness we  require  the  passive  voice.  Everything  suggestive 
of  rapid  motion  must  be  removed,  and  never  spoken  of. 
You  are  rapid  motion  itself,  my  dear  sir.  We  get  a  re- 
lapse every  time  you  come  in." 

"  You  want  me  out  of  the  way.  Very  well.  Let  me 
know  when  you  have  killed  my  friend.  I  suppose  your 
office  ends  with  that.  I  will  come  down  and  see  to  his 
funeral." 

"  Mr.  Mordacks,  you  may  be  premature  in  such  previ- 
sion. Your  own  may  come  first,  sir.  Look  well  at  your 
eyes  the  next  time  you  shave,  and  I  fear  you  will  descry 
those  radiant  fibres  in  the  iris  which  always  co-exist  with 
heart-disease.  I  can  tell  you  fifty  cases,  if  you  have  time 
to  listen." 

"  D — n  your  prognostics,  sir  !"  exclaimed  the  factor, 
rudely  ;  but  he  seldom  lathered  himself  thenceforth  with- 
out a  little  sigh  of  self-regard.  "  Now,  Dr.  Stirbacks," 
he  continued,  with  a  rally,  "  you  may  find  my  society 
depressing,  but  it  is  generally  considered  to  be  elevating  ; 
and  that,  sir,  by  judges  of  the  highest  order,  and  men  of 
independent  income.  The  head  of  your  profession  in  the 
northern  half  of  England,  who  takes  a  hundred  guineas  for 
every  one  you  take,  rejoices,  sir — rejoices  is  not  too  strong 
a  word  to  use — in  my  very  humble  society.  Of  course  he 
may  be  wrong  ;  but  when  he  hears  that  Mr.  Stirbacks,  of 
Little  Under-Bempton — is  that  the  right  address,  sir  ? — 
speaks  of  my  society  as  depressing — " 

"  Mr.  Mordacks,  you  misunderstood  my  meaning.  I 
spoke  with^no  reference  to  you  whatever,  but  of  all  male 
society  as  enervating — if  you  dislike  the  word  '  depressing  ' 
— relaxing,  emollient,  emasculating,  from  want  of  contradic- 
tory element  ;  while  I  wras  proceeding  to  describe  the  need 
of  strictly  female  society.  The  rector  offers  this  ;  he  was 
here  just  now.  His  admiration  for  you  is  unbounded.  He 
desires  to  receive  our  distinguished  patient,  with  the  vast 
advantage  of  ladies'  society,  double-thick  walls,  and  a 
southern  aspect,  if  you  should  consider  it  advisable." 


A   TANGLE   OF   VEINS.  427 

"  Undoubtedly  I  do.  If  the  moving  can  be  done  with- 
out clanger  ;  and  of  that  you  arc  the  proper  judge  of 
course. ' ' 

Thus  they  composed  their  little  disagreement,  with 
mutual  respect,  and  some  approaches  to  good-will  ;  and  Sir 
Duncan  Yordas,  being  skilfully  removed,  spent  his  Christ- 
mas (without  knowing  much  about  it)  in  the  best  and 
warmest  bedroom  in  the  rectory.  But  Mordacks  returned, 
as  an  honest  man  should  do,  to  put  the  laurel  and  the 
mistletoe  on  his  proper  household  gods.  And  where  can 
this  be  better  done  than  in  that  grand  old  city,  York  ?  But 
before  leaving  Flamborough,  he  settled  the  claims  of  busi- 
ness and  charity,  so  far  as  he  could  see  them,  and  so  far  as 
the  state  of  things  permitted. 

Foiled  as  he  was  in  his  main  object  by  the  murder  of  the 
revenue  officer,  and  the  consequent  flight  of  Robin  Lyth, 
he  had  thoroughly  accomplished  one  part  of  his  task,  the 
discovery  of  the  Golconda's  fate,  and  the  history  of  Sir 
Duncan's  child.  Moreover,  his  trusty  agents,  Joe  of  the 
Monument,  and  Bob  his  son,  had  relieved  him  of  one 
thorny  care,  by  the  zeal  and  skill  with  which  they  worked. 
It  was  to  them  a  sweet  instruction  to  watch,  encounter,  and 
drink  down  a  rogue  who  had  scuttled  a  ship,  and  even  de- 
feated them  at  their  own  weapons,  and  made  a  text  of  them 
to  teach  mankind.  Dr.  Upround  had  not  exaggerated  the 
ardor  with  which  they  discharged  their  duty. 

But  Mordacks  still  had  one  rogue  on  hand,  and  a  deeper 
one  tlfan  Kickon  Goold.  In  the  course  of  his  visits  to 
Bridlington  Quay,  he  had  managed  to  meet  John  Cadman, 
preferring,  as  he  always  did,  his  own  impressions  to  almost 
any  other  evidence.  And  his  own  impressions  had  entirely 
borne  out  the  conviction  of  Widow  Carroway.  But  he  saw 
at  once  that  this  man  could  not  be  plied  with  coarse  weap- 
ons, like  the  other  worn-out  villain.  lie  reserved  him  as  a 
choice  bit  for  his  own  skill,  and  was  careful  not  to  alarm 
him  yet.  Only  two  things  concerned  him,  as  immediate  in 
the  matter — to  provide  against  Cadman's  departure  from 
the  scene,  and  to  learn  all  the  widow  had  to  tell  about 
him. 

The  widow  had  a  great  deal  to  say  about  that  man  ;  but 


428  MARY   AKERLEY. 

had  not  said  it  yet,  from  want  of  power  so  to  do.  Mor- 
dacks himself  had  often  stopped  her,  when  she  could 
scarcely  stop  herself  ;  for  until  her  health  should  be  set  up 
again,  any  stir  of  the  mind  would  be  dangerous.  But  now, 
with  the  many  things  provided  for  her,  good  nursing,  and 
company,  and  the  kindness  of  the  neighbors  (who  jealously 
rushed  in  as  soon  as  a  stranger  led  the  way),  and  the  sick- 
ening of  Tommy  with  the  measels — which  he  had  caught  in 
the  coal  cellar — she  began  to  be  started  in  a  different  plane 
of  life  ;  to  contemplate  the  past  as  a  golden  age  (enshrining 
a  diamond  statue  of  a  revenue  officer  in  full  uniform),  and 
to  look  upon  the  present  as  a  period  of  steel,  when  a  keen 
edge  must  be  kept  against  the  world,  for  a  defence  of  all 
the  little  seed  of  diamonds. 

Now  the  weather  was  milder,  as  it  generally  is  at  Christ- 
mas-time, and  the  snow  all  gone,  and  the  wind  blowing  off 
the  land  again,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  both  cod  and 
conger.  The  cottage,  which  had  looked  such  a  den  of  cold 
and  famine,  with  the  blinds  drawn  down,  and  the  snow 
piled  up  against  the  door,  and  not  a  single  child-nose  against 
the  glass  was  now  quite  warm  again,  and  almost  as  lively 
as  if  Lieutenant  Carroway  were  coming  home  to  dinner. 
The  heart  of  Mr.  Mordacks  glowed  with  pride  as  he  said  to 
himself  that  he  had  done  all  this  ;  and  the  glow  was 
reflected  on  the  cheeks  of  Geraldinc,  as  she  ran  out  to  kiss 
him,  and  then  jumped  upon  his  shoulder.  For,  in  spite  of 
his  rigid  aspect  and  stern  nose,  the  little  lass  had  taken 
kindly  to  him  ;  while  he  admired  her  for  eating  candles. 

"  If  you  please,  you  can  come  in  here,"  said  Jerry. 
"  Oh,  don't  knock  my  head  against  the  door." 

Mrs.  Carroway  knew  what  he  was  come  for  ;  and 
although  she  had  tried  to  prepare  herself  for  it,  she  could 
not  help  trembling  a  little.  The  factor  had  begged  her  to 
have  some  friend  present,  to  encourage  and  help  her  in  so 
grievous  an  affair  ;  but  she  would  not  hear  of  it,  and  said 
she  had  no  friend. 

Mr.  Mordacks  sat  down,  as  he  was  told  to  do,  in  the 
little  room  sacred  to  the  poor  lieutenant,  and  faithful  even 
yet  to  the  pious  memory  of  his  pipe.  When  the  children 
were  shut  out,  he  began  to  look  around,  that  the  lady  might 


A   TANGLE   OF  VEINS.  429 

have  time  to  cry.     But  she  only  found  occasion  for  a  little 
dry  sob. 

"It  is  horrible,  very,  very  horrible,"  she  murmured, 
with  a  shudder,  as  her  eyes  were  following  his  ;  "  but  for 
his  sake  I  endure  it." 

"  A  most  sad  and  bitter  trial,  ma'am,  as  ever  I  have 
heard  of.  But  you  are  bound  to  bear  in  mind  that  he  is 
looking  down  on  you." 

"  I  could  not  put  up  with  it,  without  the  sense  of  that, 
sir.  But  I  say  to  myself  how  much  he  loved  it  ;  and  that 
makes  me  put  up  with  it. ' ' 

"  I  am  quite  at  a  loss  to  understand  you,  madam.  We 
seem  to  be  at  cross-purposes.  I  was  speaking  of — of  a 
thing  it  pains  me  to  mention  ;  and  you  say  how  much  he 
loved—" 

"  Dirt,  sir,  dirt.  It  was  his  only  weakness.  Oh,  my 
darling  Charles,  my  blessed,  blessed  Charley  !  Sometimes 
I  used  to  drive  him  almost  to  his  end  about  it  ;  but  I  never 
thought  his  end  would  come  ;  I  assure  you  I  never  did,  sir. 
But  now  I  shall  leave  everything  as  he  would  like  to  see  it 
— every  table,  and  every  chair,  that  he  could  write  his  name 
on  it.  And  his  favorite  pipe  with  the  bottom  in  it.  That 
is  what  he  must  love  to  see,  if  the  Lord  allows  him  to  look 
down.  Only  the  children  mustn't  see  it,  for  the  sake  of 
bad  example." 

"  Mrs.  Carroway,  I  agree  with  you  most  strictly.  Chil- 
dren must  be  taught  clean  ways,  even  while  they  revere 
their  father.  You  should  see  my  daughter  Arabella, 
ma'am.  She  regards  me  with  perfect  devotion.  Why  ? 
Because  I  never  let  her  do  the  things  that  I  myself  do.  It 
is  the  only  true  principle  of  government  for  a  nation,  a 
parish,  a  household.  How  beautifully  you  have  trained 
pretty  Geraldine  !  I  fear  that  you  scarcely  could  spare  her 
for  a  month,  in  the  spring,  and  perhaps  Tommy  after  his 
measles  ;  but  a  visit  to  York  would  do  them  good,  and 
establish  their  expanding  minds,  ma'am." 

"  Mr.  Mordacks,  I  know  not  where  we  may  be  then. 
But  anything  that  you  desire  is  a  law  to  us. ' ' 

"  Well  said  !  Beautifully  said  !  But  I  trust,  my  dear 
madam,  that  you  will  be  here.  Indeed,  it  would  never  do 


430  MARY   AKERLEY. 

for  you  to  go  away.  Or  rather,  I  should  put  it  thus — for 
the  purposes  of  justice,  and  for  other  reasons  also,  it  is  most 
important  that  you  should  not  leave  this  place.  At  least 
you  will  promise  me  that,  I  hope  1  Unless,  of  course, 
unless  you  find  the  memories  too  painful.  And  even  so, 
you  might  find  comfort  in  some  inland  house,  not  far." 

"  Many  people  might  not  like  to  stop,"  the  widow 
answered,  simply  ;  "  but  to  me  it  would  be  a  worse  pain 
to  go  away.  I  sit,  in  the  evening,  by  the  window  here. 
Whenever  there  is  light  enough  to  show  the  sea,  and  the 
beach  is  fit  for  landing  on,  it  seems  to  my  eyes  that  I  can 
see  the  boat,  with  my  husband  standing  up  in  it.  He  had 
a  majestic  way  of  standing,  with  one  leg  more  up  than  the 
other,  sir,  through  one  of  his  daring  exploits  ;  and  when- 
ever I  see  him,  he  is  just  like  that  ;  and  the  little  children 
in  the  kitchen  peep  and  say,  *  Here's  daddy  coming  at  last ; 
we  can  tell  by  mammy's  eyes  ;  '  and  the  bigger  ones  say, 
'  Hush  !  You  might  know  better.'  And  I  look  again, 
wondering  which  of  them  is  right  ;  and  then  there  is  noth- 
ing but  the  clouds  and  sea.  Still,  when  it  is  over,  and  I 
have  cried  about  it,  it  does  me  a  little  good  every  time. 
I  seem  to  be  nearer  to  Charley,  as  my  heart  falls  quietly 
into  the  will  of  the  Lord." 

"  No  doubt  of  it  whatever.  I  can  thoroughly  under- 
stand it,  although  there  is  not  a  bit  of  resignation  in  me. 
I  felt  that  sort  of  thing,  to  some  extent,  when  I  lost  my 
angelic  wife,  ma'am,-  though  naturally  departed  to  a  sphere 
more  suited  for  her.  And  I  often  seem  to  think  that  still 
I  hear  her  voice  when  a  coal  comes  to  table  in  a  well-dish. 
Life;  Mrs.  Carroway,  is  no  joke  to  bandy  back,  but  trouble 
to  be  shared.  And  none  share  it  fairly  but  the  husband 
and  the  wife,  ma'am." 

1  '  You  make  it  very  hard  for  me  to  get  my  words, ' '  she 
said,  without  minding  that  her  tears  ran  down,  so  long  as 
she  spoke  clearly.  "  I  am  not  of  the  lofty  sort,  and  under- 
stand no  laws  of  things  ;  though  my  husband  was  remark- 
able for  doing  so.  He  took  all  the  trouble  of  the  taxes  off, 
though  my  part  was  to  pay  for  them.  And  in  every  other 
way  he  was  a  wonder,  sir  ;  not  at  all  because  now  he  is 
gone  above.  That  would  be  my  last  motive." 


A  TAHGLE   OF   VEIKS.  431 

"  He  was  a  wonder,  a  genuine  wonder/*  Mordacks 
replied,  without  irony.  "  He  did  his  duty,  ma'am,  with 
zeal  and  ardor  ;  a  shining  example  upon  very  little  pay.  I 
fear  that  it  was  his  integrity  and  zeal,  truly  British  charac- 
ter and  striking  sense  of  discipline,  that  have  so  sadly 
brought  him  to — to  the  condition  of  an  example. " 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Mordacks,  it  was  all  that.  He  never  could 
put  up  with  a  lazy  man,  as  anybody,  to  live,  must  have  to 
do.  He  kept  all  his  men,  as  I  used  to  do  our  children,  to 
word  of  command,  and  no  answer.  Honest  men  like  it  ; 
but  wicked  men  fly  out.  And  all  along  we  had  a  very 
wicked  man  here." 

"Sol  have  heard  from  other  good  authority — a  deceiver 
of  women,  a  skulk,  a  dog.  I  have  met  with  many  villains  ; 
and  I  am  not  hot.  But  my  tendency  is  to  take  that  fellow 
by  the  throat  with  both  hands,  and  throttle  him.  Having 
thoroughly  accomplished  that,  I  should  prepare  to  sift  the 
evidence.  Unscientific,  illogical,  brutal,  are  such  desires, 
as  you  need  not  tell  me.  And  yet,  madam,  they  are  manly. 
I  hate  slow  justice  ;  I  like  it  quick — quick,  or  none  at  all, 
I  say,  so  long  as  it  is  justice.  Creeping  justice  is,  to  my 
mind,  little  better  than  slow  revenge.  My  opinions  are  not 
orthodox,  but  I  hope  they  do  not  frighten  you. " 

"  They  do  indeed,  sir  ;  or  at  least  your  face  does  ; 
though  I  know  how  quick  and  just  you  are.  He  is  a  bad 
man — too  well  I  know  it — but  as  my  dear  husband  used  to 
say,  he  has  a  large  lot  of  children." 

"  Well,  Mrs.  Carroway,  I  admire  you  the  more,  for  con- 
sidering what  he  has  not  considered.  Let  us  put  aside 
that.  The  question  is — guilty  or  not  guilty  ?  If  he  is 
guilty,  shall  he  get  off,  and  innocent  men  be  hanged  for 
him  ?  Six  men  are  in  jail  at  this  present  moment  for  the 
deed  which  we  believe  he  did.  Have  they  no  wives,  no 
fathers  and  mothers,  no  children — not  to  speak  of  their 
own  lives  ?  The  case  is  one  in  which  the  Constitution  of 
the  realm  must  be  asserted.  Six  innocent  men  must  die 
unless  the  crime  is  brought  home  to  the  guilty  one.  Even 
that  is  not  all  as  regards  yourself.  You  may  not  care  for 
your  own  life,  but  you  are  bound  to  treasure  it  seven  times 
over  for  the  sake  of  your  seven  children.  While  John 


432  MARY   AKERLEY. 

Cadman  is  at  large,  and  nobody  hanged  instead  of  him, 
your  life  is  in  peril,  ma'am.  He  knows  that  you  know 
him,  and  have  denounced  him.  He  has  tried  to  scare  you 
into  silence  ;  and  the  fright  caused  your  sad  illness.  I 
have  reason  to  believe  that  he,  by  scattering  crafty  rumors, 
concealed  from  the  neighbors  your  sad  plight,  and  that  of 
your  dear  children.  If  so,  he  is  worse  than  the  devil  him- 
self. Do  you  see  your  duty  now,  and  your  interest  also  ?" 

Mrs.  Carroway  nodded  gently.  Her  strength  of  mind 
was  not  come  back  yet,  after  so  much  illness.  The  baby 
lay  now  on  its  father's  breast,  and  the  mother's  had  been 
wild  for  it. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  have  used  harsh  words,"  resumed  Mor- 
dacks  ;  "  but  I  always  have  to  do  so.  They  seem  to  put 
things  clearer  ;  and  without  that,  where  would  business  be  ? 
Now  I  will  not  tire  you  if  I  can  help  it,  nor  ask  a  needless 
question.  What  provocation  had  this  man  ?  What  fanci- 
ful cause  for  spite,  I  mean  ?" 

"  Oh,  none,  Mr.  Mordacks,  none  whatever.  My  hus- 
band rebuked  him  for  being  worthless,  and  a  liar,  and  a 
traitor  ;  and  he  threatened  to  get  him  removed  from  the 
force  ;  and  he  gave  him  a  little  throw  down  from  the  cliff 
— but  what  little  was  done  was  done  entirely  for  his  good." 

"  Yes,  I  see.  And  after  that,  was  Cadman  ever  heard 
to  threaten  him  ?" 

"  Many  times,  in  a  most  malicious  way,  when  he  thought 
he  was  not  heeded.  The  other  men  may  fear  to  bear  wit- 
ness. But  my  Geraldine  has  heard  him. ' ' 

"  There  could  be  no  better  witness.  A  child,  especially 
a  pretty  little  girl,  tells  wonderfully  with  a  jury.  But  we 
must  have  a  great  deal  more  than  that.  Thousands  of  men 
threaten,  and  do  nothing,  according  to  the  proverb.  A 
still  more  important  point  is — how  did  the  muskets  in  the 
boat  come  home  ?  They  were  all  returned  to  the  station, 
I  presume.  Were  they  all  returned  with  their  charges  in 
them?" 

u  I  am  sure  I  cannot  say  how  that  was.  There  was 
nobody  to  attend  to  that.  But  one  of  them  had  been  lost 
altogether. '  * 

"  One  of  the  guns  never  came  back  at  all  !"  Mordacks 


A   TAJSTGLE   OF   VEINS.  433 

almost  shouted.  u  Whoso  gun  was  it  that  did  not  come 
back?" 

"  How  can  we  say  ?  There  was  such  confusion.  My 
husband  would  never  let  them  nick  the  guns,  as  they  do  at 
some  of  the  stations,  for  every  man  to  know  his  own.  But 
in  spite  of  that,  each  man  had  his  own,  I  believe.  Cadman 
declares  that  he  brought  home  his  ;  and  nobody  contra- 
dicted him.  But  if  I  saw  the  guns,  I  should  know  whether 
Cadman' s  is  among  them." 

u  How  can  you  possibly  pretend  to  know  that,  ma'am  ? 
English  ladies  can  do  almost  anything.  But  surely  you 
never  served  out  the  guns  ?" 

' 1  No,  Mr.  Mordacks.  But  I  have  cleaned  them.  Not  the 
inside  of  course  ;  that  I  know  nothing  of  ;  and  nobody  sees 
that,  to  be  offended.  But  several  times  I  have  ob- 
served, at  the  station,  a  disgraceful  quantity  of  dust  upon 
the  guns — dust  and  rust  in  miserable  blotches,  such  as  bad 
girls  leave  in  the  top  of  a  fish-kettle  ;  and  I  made  Charley 
bring  them  down,  and  be  sure  to  have  them  empty  ;  be- 
cause they  were  so  unlike  what  I  have  seen  on  board  of  the 
ship  where  he  won  his  glory,  and  took  the  bullet  in  his 
nineteenth  rib." 

"  My  dear  madam,  what  a  frame  he  must  have  had  ! 
But  this  is  most  instructive.  No  wonder  Geraldinc  is 
brave.  What  a  worthy  wife  for  a  naval  hero  !  A  lady 
who  could  handle  guns  !" 

"  I  knew,  sir,  quite  from  early  years,  having  lived  near 
a  very  large  arsenal,  that  nothing  can  make  a  gun  go  off 
unless  there  is  something  in  it.  And  I  could  trust  my  hus- 
band to  see  to  that  ;  and  before  I  touched  one  of  them  I 
made  him  put  a  brimstone  match  to  the  touch-hole.  And 
I  found  it  so  pleasant  to  polish  them,  from  having  such 
wicked  things  quite  at  my  mercy.  The  wood  was  what  I 
noticed  most,  because  of  understanding  chairs.  One  of 
them  had  a  very  curious  tangle  of  veins  on  the  left  cheek 
behind  the  trigger  ;  and  I  just  had  been  doing  for  the  chil- 
dren's tea  what  they  call '  crinkly-crinkly  ' — treacle  trickled 
(like  a  maze)  upon  the  bread  ;  and  Tommy  said,  i  Look 
here  !  it  is  the  very  same  upon  this  gun.'  And  so  it  was  ; 
just  the  same  pattern  on  the  wood  !  And  while  I  was 
28 


434  JMAKY   AKE11LEY. 

doing  it  Cadman  came  up,  in  his  low  surly  way,  and  said, 
'  I  want  my  gun,  missus  ;  I  never  shoot  with  no  other  gun 
than  that.  Captain  says  I  may  shoot  a  sea-pie,  for  the  lit- 
tle ones.7  And  so  I  always  called  it  '  Cadman' s  gun.'  I 
have  not  been  able  to  think  much  yet.  But  if  that  gun  is 
lost,  I  shall  know  who  it  was  that  lost  a  gun  that  dreadful 
night.7 

"  All  this  is  most  strictly  to  the  purpose/7  answered 
Mordacks,  u  and  may  prove  most  important.  We  could 
never  hope  to  get  those  six  men  off,  without  throwing  most 
grave  suspicion  elsewhere  ;  and  unless  we  can  get  those  six 
men  off,  their  captain  will  come  and  surrender  himself,  and 
be  hanged  to  a  dead  certainty.  I  doubted  his  carrying  the 
sense  of  right  so  far,  until  I  reflected  upon  his  birth,  dear 
madam.  He  belongs,  as  I  may  tell  you  now,  to  a  very 
ancient  family,  a  race  that  would  run  their  heads  into  a 
noose  out  of  pure  obstinacy,  rather  than  skulk  off.  I  am 
of  very  ancient  race  myself,  though  I  never  take  pride  in 
the  matter,  because  I  have  seen  more  harm  than  good  of 
it.  I  always  learned  Latin  at  school  so  quickly  through 
being  a  grammatical  example  of  descent.  According  to 
our  pedigree,  Caius  Calpurnius  Mordax  Naso  was  the  gov- 
ernor of  Britain  under  Pertinax.  My  name  means  4  bit- 
ing ;7  and  bite  I  can,  whether  my  dinner  is  before  me  or 
my  enemy.  In  the  present  case  I  shall  not  bite  yet,  but 
prepare  myself  for  doing  so.  I  watch  the  proceedings  of 
the  government,  who  are  sure  to  be  slow,  as  well  as  blun- 
dering. There  has  been  no  appointment  to  this  command 
as  yet,  because  of  so  many  people  wauting  it.  This 
patched-up  peace,  which  may  last  about  six  months  (even 
if  it  is  ever  signed),  is  producing  confusion  everywhere. 
You  have  an  old  fool  put  in  charge  of  this  station  till  a  prop- 
er successor  is  appointed.77 

"  He  is  not  like  Captain  Carroway,  sir.  But  that  con- 
cerns me  little  now.  But  I  do  wish,  for  my  children's  sake, 
that  they  would  send  a  little  money.77 

"  On  no  account  think  twice  of  that.  That  question  is  in 
my  hands,  and  affords  me  one  of  the  few  pleasures  I  derive 
from  business.  You  are  under  no  sort  of  obligation  about 
it.  I  am  acting  under  authority.  A  man  of  exalted  posi- 


A   TANGLE   OF   VEINS.  435 

lion  and  liigli  office — but  never  mind  that  till  the  proper 
time  comes  ;  only  keep  your  mind  in  perfect  rest,  and 
attend  to  your  children  and  yourself.  I  am  obliged  to  pro- 
ceed very  warily,  but  you  shall  not  be  annoyed  by  that 
scoundrel.  I  will  provide  for  that  before  I  leave  ;  also  I 
will  see  the  guns  still  in  store,  without  letting  anybody 
guess  my  motive.  I  have  picked  up  a  very  sharp  fellow 
here,  whose  heart  is  in  the  business  thoroughly  ;  for  one  of 
the  prisoners  is  his  twin  brother,  and  he  lost  his  poor  sweet- 
heart through  Cadman's  villainy — a  young  lass  who  used  to 
pick  mussels,  or  something.  He  will  see  that  the  rogue 
does  not  give  us  the  slip,  and  I  have  looked  out  for  that  in 
other  ways  as  well.  I  am  greatly  afraid  of  tiring  you,  my 
dear  madam  ;  but  have  you  any  other  thing  to  tell  me  of 
this  Cadman  ?" 

"  No,  Mr.  Mordacks,  except  a  whole  quantity  of  little 
things  that  tell  a  great  deal  to  me,  but  to  anybody  else 
would  have  no  sense.  For  instance,  of  his  looks,  and 
turns,  and  habits,  and  tricks  of  seeming  neither  the  one 
thing  nor  the  other,  and  jumping  all  the  morning,  when  the 
last  man  was  hanged — n 

;<  Did  he  do  that,  madam  ?     Are  you  quite  sure  ?" 

"  I  had'  it  on  the  authority  of  his  own  wife.  He  beats 
her,  but  still  she  cannot  understand  him.  You  may  re- 
member that  the  man  to  be  suspended  was  brought  to  the 
place  where — where — " 

"  Where  he  earned  his  doom.  It  is  quite  right.  Things 
of  that  sort  should  be  done  upon  a  far  more  liberal  scale. 
Example  is  better  than  a  thousand  precepts.  Let  us  be 
thankful  that  we  live  in  such  a  country.  I  have  brought 
some  medicine  for  brave  Tommy  from  our  Dr.  Stirbacks. 
Be  sure  that  you  stroke  his  throat  when  he  takes  it.  Boys 
are  such  rogues — ° 

"  Well,  Mr.  Mordacks,  I  really  hope  that  I  know  how  to 
make  my  little  boy  take  medicine  !" 


436  MARY   ANERLEY. 

CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

SHORT    SIGHS    AND    LONG    ONES. 

Now  it  came  to  pass  that  for  several  months  this  neigh- 
borhood, which  had  begun  to  regard  Mr.  Mordacks  as  its 
tutelary  genius — so  great  is  the  power  of  bold  energy — lost 
him  altogether  ;  and  with  brief  lamentation  began  to  do 
very  well  without  him.  So  fugitive  is  vivacious  stir,  and  so 
well  content  is  the  general  world  to  jog  along  in  its  old 
ruts.  The  Flamborough  butcher  once  more  subsided  into  a 
piscitarian  ;  the  postman,  who  had  been  driven  off  his  legs, 
had  time  to  nurse  his  grain  again  ;  Widow  Tapsy  relapsed 
into  the  very  worse  of  taps,  having  none  to  demand  good 
beverage  ;  and  a  new  rat,  sevenfold  worse  than  the  mighty 
net-devourer  (whom  Mordacks  slew  ;  but  the  chronicle  has 
been  cut  out,  for  the  sake  of  brevity),  took  possession  of 
his  galleries,  and  made  them  pay.  All  FJamborough 
yearned  for  the  "  gentleman  as  did  things,"  itself  being 
rather  of  the  contemplative  vein,  which  flows  from  im- 
memorial converse  with  the  sea.  But  the  man  of  dry  hand- 
and-heel  activity  came  not,  and  the  lanes  forgot  the  echo  of 
his  Roman  march. 

The  postman  (with  a  wicked  endeavor  of  hope  to  beget 
faith  from  sweet  laziness)  propagated  a  loose  report  that 
death  had  claimed  the  general  factor,  through  fear  of  any 
rival  in  activity.  The  postman  did  not  put  it  so,  because 
his  education  was  too  good  for  long  words  to  enter  into  it  ; 
but  he  put  his  meaning  in  a  shorter  form  than  a  smattering 
of  distant  tongues  leaves  to  us.  The  butcher  (having  doubt 
of  death,  unless  by  man  administered)  kicked  the  postman 
out  of  his  expiring  shop,  where  large  hooks  now  had  no 
sheep  for  bait  ;  and  Widow  Tapsy,  filled  with  softer  liquid 
form  of  memory,  was  so  upset  by  the  letter-man's  tale  that 
she  let  off  a  man  who  owed  four  gallons,  for  beating  him 
as  flat  as  his  own  bag.  To  tell  of  these  things  may  take 
time,  but  time  is  thoroughly  well  spent  if  it  contributes  a 
trifle  toward  some  tendency,  on  anybody's  part,  to  hope 
that  there  used  to  be,  even  in  this  century,  such  a  thing  as 
gratitude. 


SHORT  SIGHS  AND   LONG  ONES.  437 

• 

Bat  why  did  Mr.  Mordacks  thus  desert  his  favorite  quest 
and  quarters,  and  the  folk  in  whom  he  took  most  delight — 
because  so  long  inaccessible  ?  The  reason  was  as  sound  as 
need  be  :  important  business  of  his  own  had  called  him 
away  into  Derbyshire.  Like  every  true  son  of  stone  and 
crag,  he  required  an  annual  scratch  against  them,  and  hoped 
to  rest  among  them  when  the  itch  of  life  was  over.  But 
now  he  had  hopes  of  even  more  than  that — of  owning  a 
good  house  and  fair  estate,  and  henceforth  exerting  his 
remarkable  powers  of  agency  on  his  own  behalf.  For  his 
cousin,  Calpurnius  Mordacks,  the  head  of  the  family,  was 
badly  ailing,  and  having  lost  his  only  son  in  the  West  In- 
dies, had  sent  for  this  kinsman  to  settle  matters  with  him. 
His  offer  was  generous  and  noble  ;  to  wit,  that  Geoffrey 
should  take,  not  the  property  alone,  but  also  his  second 
cousin,  fair  Calpurnia,  though  not  without  her  full  consent. 
Without  the  lady,  he  was  not  to  have  the  land,  and  the 
lady's  consent  must  be  secured  before  her  father  ceased  to 
be  a  sound  testator. 

Now  if  Calpurnia  had  been  kept  in  ignorance  of  this 
arrangement,  a  man  possessing  the  figure,  decision,  stature, 
self-confidence,  and  other  high  attributes  of  our  Mordacks, 
must  have  triumphed  in  a  week  at  latest.  But  with  that 
candor  which  appears  to  have  been  so  strictly  entailed  in 
the  family,  Colonel  Calpurnius  called  them  in  ;  and  there  (in 
the  presence  of  the  testator  and  of  each  other)  they  were 
fully  apprised  of  this  rather  urgent  call  upon  their  best  and 
most  delicate  emotions.  And  the  worst  of  it  was  (from  the 
gentleman's  point  of  view),  that  the  contest  was  unequal. 
The  golden  apples  were  not  his  to  cast,  but  Atalanta's. 
The  lady  was  to  have  the  land,  even  without  accepting  love. 
Moreover,  he  was  fifty  per  cent  beyond  her  in  age,  and 
Hymen  would  make  her  a  mamma  without  invocation  of 
Lucina.  But  highest  and  deepest  woe  of  all,  most  moun- 
tainous of  obstacles,  was  the  lofty  sky-line  of  his  nose,  in- 
herited from  the  Roman.  If  the  lady's  corresponding  feat- 
ure had  not  corresponded — in  other  words,  if  her  nose  had 
been  chubby,  snub,  or  even  Greek — his  bold  bridge  must 
have  served  him  well,  and  even  shortened  access  to  rosy  lips 
and  tender  heart.  But,  alas  !  the  fair  one's  nose  was  also 


438  MARY   ANEELEY. 

• 

of  tlie  fine  imperial  type,  truly  admirable  in  itself,  but  (un- 
der one  of  nature's  strictest  laws)  coy  of  contact  with  its  own 
male  expression.  Love,  whose  joy  and  fierce  prank  is  to 
buckle  to  the  plated  pole  ill-matched  forms  and  incongruous 
spirits,  did  not  fail  of  her  impartial  freaks.  Mr.  Mordacks 
had  to  cope  with  his  own  kin,  and  found  the  conflict  so 
severe  that  not  a  breath  of  time  was  left  him  for  anybody's 
business  but  his  own. 

If  luck  was  against  him  in  that  quarter  (although  he 
would  not  own  it  yet),  at  York  and  Flamborough  it  was  not 
so.  No  crisis  arose  to  demand  his  presence  ;  no  business 
went  amiss  because  of  his  having  to  work  so  hard  at  love. 
There  came,  as  there  sometimes  does  in  matters  pressing, 
tangled,  and  exasperating,  a  quiet  period,  a  gentle  lull,  a 
halcyon  time  when  the  jaded  brain  reposes,  and  the  heart 
may  hatch  her  own  mares' -nests.  Underneath  that  tran- 
quil spell  lay  fond  Joe  and  Bob  (with  their  cash  to  spend), 
Widow  Precious  (with  her  beer  laid  in),  and  Widow  Car- 
roway,  with  a  dole  at  last  extorted  from  the  government  ; 
while  Anerley  Farm  was  content  to  hearken  the  creak  of 
wagon  and  the  ring  of  flail,  and  the  rector  of  Flamborough 
once  more  rejoiced  in  the  bloodless  war  that  breeds  good- 
will. 

For  Sir  Duncan  Yordas  was  a  fine  chess-player,  as  many 
Indian  officers  of  that  time  were  ;  and  now  that  he  was  com- 
ing to  his  proper  temperature  (after  three  months  of  barbed 
stab  of  cold,  and  the  breach  of  the  seal  of  the  seventy-seventh 
phial  of  Dr.  Stirbacks),  in  gratitude  for  that  miraculous 
escape,  he  did  his  very  best  to  please  everybody.  To  Dr. 
Upround  he  was  an  agreeable  and  penetrative  companion  ; 
to  Mrs.  Upround,  a  gallant  guest,  with  a  story  for  every 
slice  of  bread  and  butter  ;  to  Janetta,  a  deity  combining 
the  perfections  of  Jupiter,  Phoebus,  Mars,  and  Neptune 
(because  of  his  yacht),  without  any  of  their  drawbacks  ; 
and  to  Flamborough,  more  largely  speaking,  a  downright 
good  sort  of  gentleman,  combining  a  smoke  with  a  chaw — 
so  they  understood  cigars — and  not  above  standing  still 
sometimes  for  a  man  to  say  some  sense  to  him. 

But  before  Mr.  Mordacks  left  his  client  under  Dr.  Up- 
round's  care,  he  had  done  his  best  to  provide  that  mischief 


SHORT   SIGHS   AKD   LO^TG   OISTES.  430 

should  not  come  of  gossip  ;  and  the  only  way  to  prevent 
that  issue  is  to  preclude  the  gossip.  Sir  Duncan  Yordas, 
having  lived  so  long  in  a  large  commanding  way,  among 
people  who  might  say  what  they  pleased  of  him,  desired  no 
concealment  here,  and  accepted  it  unwillingly.  But  his 
agent  was  better  skilled  in  English  life,  and  rightly  foresaw 
a  mighty  buzz  of  nuisance — without  any  honey  to  be 
brought  home — from  the  knowledge  of  the  public  that  the 
Indian  hero  had  begotten  the  better-known  apostle  of  free- 
trade.  Yet  it  might  have  been  hard  to  persuade  Sir  Dun- 
can to  keep  that  great  fact  to  himself,  if  his  son  had  been 
only  a  smuggler,  or  only  a  fugitive  from  a  false  charge  of 
murder.  But  that  which  struck  him  in  the  face,  as  soon  as 
he  was  able  to  consider  things,  was  the  fact  that  his  son 
had  fled  and  vanished,  leaving  his  underlings  to  meet  their 
fate.  "The  smuggling  is  a  trifle, "  exclaimed  the  sick 
man  ;  u  our  family  never  was  law-abidiug,  and  used  to  be 
large  cattle-lifters  ;  even  the  slaying  of  a  man  in  hot  com- 
bat is  no  more  than  I  myself  have  done,  and  never  felt  the 
worse  for  it.  But  to  run  away,  and  leave  men  to  be 
hanged,  after  bringing  them  into  the  scrape  himself,  is  not 
the  right  sort  of  dishonor  for  a  Yordas.  If  the  boy  sur- 
renders, I  shall  be  proud  to  own  him.  But  until  he  does 
that,  I  agree  with  you,  Mordacks,  that  he  does  not  deserve 
to  know  who  he  is.'* 

This  view  of  the  case  was  harsh,  perhaps,  and  showed 
some  ignorance  of  free-trade  questions,  and  of  English  jus- 
tice. If  Robin  Lyth  had  been  driven,  by  the  heroic  view 
of  circumstances,  to  rush  into  embrace  constabular,  would 
that  have  restored  the  other  six  men  to  family  sinuosities  ? 
Not  a  chance  of  it.  Rather  would  it  treble  the  pangs  of 
jail — where  they  enjoyed  themselves — to  feel  that  anxiety 
about  their  pledges  to  fortune,  from  which  the  free  Robin 
relieved  them.  Money  was  lodged  and  paid  as  punctual  as 
the  bank  for  the  benefit  of  all  their  belongings.  There 
were  times  when  the  sailors  grumbled  a  little,  because  they 
had  no  ropes  to  climb  ;  but  of  any  unfriendly  rope  impend- 
ing they  were  too  wise  to  have  much  fear.  They  knew 
that  they  had  not  done  the  deed,  and  they  felt  assured  that 


440  MARY   AKERLEY. 

^twelve  good  men  would  never  turn  round  in  tlieir  box  to  be- 
lieve it. 

Their  captain  took  the  same  view  of  the  case.  He  had 
very  little  doubt  of  their  acquittal  if  they  were  defended 
properly  ;  and  of  that  a  far  wealthier  man  than  himself,  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  of  free-trade,  Master  Hideout 
of  Malton,  would  take  good  care,  if  the  money  left  with 
Dr.  Upround  failed.  The  surrender  of  Robin  would  sim- 
ply hurt  them,  unless  they  were  convicted,  and  in  that  case 
he  would  yield  himself.  Sir  Duncan  did  not  understand 
these  points,  and  condemned  his  son  unjustly.  And  Mor- 
dacks  was  no  longer  there  to  explain  such  questions  in  his 
sharp  clear  way. 

Being  in  this  sadly  disappointed  state,  and  not  thor- 
oughly delivered  from  that  renal  chill  (which  the  north- 
east wind,  coming  over  the  leather  of  his  valise,  had  inflict- 
ed), this  gentleman,  like  a  long-pendulous  grape,  with  the 
ventilators  open,  was  exposed  to  the  delicate  insidious  bill- 
ing of  little  birds  that  love  something  good.  It  might  be 
wrong — indeed,  it  must  be  wrong,  and  a  foul  slur  upon  fair 
sweet  love — to  insinuate  that  Indian  gold,  or  rank,  or  re- 
nown, or  vague  romance,  contributed  toward  what  came  to 
pass.  Miss  Janetta  Upround,  up  to  this  time  of  her  life, 
had  laughed  at  all  the  wanton  tricks  of  Cupid  ;  and  when- 
ever the  married  women  told  her  that  her  time  would  be 
safe  to  come,  and  then  she  might  understand  their  beha- 
vior, they  had  always  been  ordered  to  go  home  and  do  their 
washing.  And  this  made  it  harder  for  her  to  be  mangled 
by  the  very  tribulation  she  had  laughed  at. 

Short  little  sighs  were  her  first  symptom,  and  a  quiet  way 
of  going  up  the  stairs — which  used  to  be  a  noisy  process 
with  her — and  then  a  desire  to  know  something  of  history, 
and  a  sudden  turn  of  mind  toward  soup.  Sir  Duncan  had 
a  basin  every  day  at  twelve  o'clock,  and  Janetta  had  orders 
to  see  him  do  it,  by  strict  institution  of  Stirbacks.  Those 
orders  she  carried  out  with  such  zeal  that  she  even  went  so 
far  as  to  blow  upon  the  spoon  ;  and  she  did  look  nice  while 
doing  it.  In  a  word — as  there  is  no  time  for  many — being 
stricken,  she  did  her  best  to  strike,  as  the  manner  of  sweet 
women  is. 


SHORT   SIGHS   AND   LANG    OXES.  441 

Sir  Duncan  Yorclas  received  it  well.  Being  far  on  tow- 
ard her  futurity  in  years,  and  beyond  her  whole  existence, 
in  experience  and  size,  he  smiled  at  her  ardor  and  short 
vehemence  to  please  him,  and  liked  to  sec  her  go  about, 
because  she  turned  so  lightly.  Then  the  pleasant  agility  of 
thought  began  to  make  him  turn  to  answer  it  ;  and  when- 
ever she  had  the  best  of  him  in  words,  her  bright  eyes  fell, 
as  if  she  had  the  worst.  "  She  doesn't  even  know  that  she 
is  clever,"  said  the  patient  to  himself,  "  and  she  is  the  first 
person  I  have  met  with  yet  who  knows  which  side  of  the 
line  Calcutta  is. ' ' 

The  manner  of  those  benighted  times  was  to  keep  from 
young  ladies  important  secrets  which  seemed  to  be  no  con- 
cern of  theirs.  Miss  Upround  had  never  been  told  what 
brought  this  visitor  to  Flamborough,  and  although  she  had 
plenty  of  proper  curiosity,  she  never  got  any  reward  for  it. 
Only  four  Flamburians  knew  that  Sir  Duncan  was  llobin 
Lyth's  papa — or,  as  they  would  put  it  (having  faster  hold 
of  the  end  of  the  stick  next  to  them),  that  Robin  Lyth  was 
the  son  of  Sir  Duncan.  And  those  four  were,  by  force  of 
circumstance,  llobin  Cockscroft  and  Joan  his  wife,  the  rec- 
tor and  the  rectorcss.  Even  Dr.  Stirbacks  (organically  in- 
quisitive as  he  was,  and  ill  content  to  sniff  at  any  bottle 
with  the  cork  tied  down),  by  mastery  of  Mordacks  and  calm 
dignity  of  rector,  was  able  to  suspect  a  lot  of  things,  but  to 
be  sure  of  none  of  them  ;  and  suspicion,  according  to  its 
usual  manner,  never  came  near  the  truth  at  all.  Miss  Up- 
round,  therefore,  had  no  idea  that  if  she  became  Lady  Yor- 
das,  which  she  very  sincerely  longed  to  be,  she  would,  by 
that  event,  be  made  the  step-mother  of  a  widely  celebrated 
smuggler  ;  while  her  Indian  hero,  having  no  idea  of  her 
flattering  regard  as  yet,  was  not  bound  to  enlighten  her 
upon  that  point. 

At  Ancrley  Farm  the  like  ignorance  prevailed  ;  except 
that  Mistress  Ancrley,  having  a  quick  turn  for  romance,  and 
liking  to  get  her  predictions  confirmed,  recalled  to  her  mind 
(and  recited  to  her  husband  in  far  stronger  language)  what 
she  had  said,  in  the  clover-blossom  time,  to  the  bravest  man 
that  ever  lived,  the  lamented  Captain  Carroway.  .  Captain 
Carroway  's  dauntless  end,  so  thoroughly  befitting  his  extraor- 


442  MARY   ASTERLEY. 

dinary  exploits,  for  vvliicli  she  even  liad  his  own  authority, 
made  it  the  clearest  thing  in  all  the  world  that  every  word 
she  said  to  him  must  turn  our  Bible-true.  And  she  had 
begged  him — and  one  might  be  certain  that  he  had  told  it, 
as  a  good  man  must,  to  his  poor  dear  widow — not  to  shoot 
at  Robin  Lyth  ;  because  he  would  get  a  thousand  pounds 
instead  of  a  hundred  for  doing  it.  She  never  could  have 
dreamed  to  find  her  words  come  true  so  suddenly  ;  but  here 
was  an  Indian  prince  come  home,  who  employed  the  most 
pleasant-spoken  gentleman  ;  and  he  might  know  who  it  was 
he  had  to  thank  that  even  in  the  cave  the  captain  did  not 
like  to  shoot  that  long-lost  heir  ;  and  from  this  time  out 
there  was  no  excuse  for  Stephen  if  he  ever  laughed  at  any- 
thing that  his  wife  said.  Only  on  no  account  must  Mary 
ever  hear  of  it  ;  for  a  bird  in  the  hand  was  worth  fifty  in 
the  bush  ;  and  the  other  gone  abroad,  and  under  accusa- 
tion, and  very  likely  born  of  a  red  Indian  mother.  Where- 
as Harry  Tanfield's  father,  George,  had  been  as  fair  as  a 
foal,  poor  fellow  ;  and  perhaps  if  the  church  books  had 
been  as  he  desired,  he  might  have  kept  out  of  the  church- 
yard to  this  day. 

"  And  me  in  it,"  the  farmer  answered,  with  a  laugh — 
"  dead  for  love  of  my  wife,  Sophy  ;  as  wouldn't  'a  been  my 
wife,  nor  drawn  nigh  upon  fi'  pounds  this  very  week  for 
feathers,  fur,  and  ribbon  stuff.  Well,  well,  George  would  'a 
come  again,  to  think  of  it.  How  many  times  have  I  seen 
him  go  with  a  sixpence  in  the  palm  of  's  hand,  and  think 
better  of  the  king  upon  it,  and  worser  of  the  poor  chap,  as 
were  worn  out,  like  the  tail  of  it  !  Then  back  go  the  six- 
pence into  George's  breeches  ;  and  out  comes  my  shilling 
to  the  starving  chap,  on  the  sly,  and  never  mentioned.  But 
for  all  that,  I  think,  like  enow,  old  George  mought  'a  man- 
aged to  get  up  to  heaven." 

"  Stephen,  I  wish  to  hear  nothing  of  that.  The  ques- 
tion concerns  his  family,  not  ours,  as  Providence  has  seen 
fit  to  arrange.  Now  what  is  your  desire  to  have  done  with 
Mary  ?  William  has  made  his  great  discovery  at  last  ;  and 
if  we  should  get  the  £10,000,  nobody  need  look  down  on. 
us." 

11  I  should  like  to  see  any  one  look  down  on  me,"  Mas- 


SHOOT  sians  AND  LONG  ONES.  443 

ter  Anerlcy  said,  with  his  back  set  straight  ;  "  a'  mought  do 
so  once,  but  a'  would  be  sorry  afterward.  Not  that  I  would 
hinder  him  of  's  own  way  ;  only  that  he  better  keep  out  of 
mine.  Sometimes,  when  you  go  thinking  of  your  own 
ideas,  you  never  seem  to  bear  in  mind  what  my  considera- 
tions be." 

"  Because  you  cannot  follow  out  the  quickness  of  the 
way  I  think.  You  always  acknowledge  that,  my  dear." 

"  Well,  well.  Quick  churn  spoileth  butter.  Like  Wil- 
lie with  his  perpetual  motion.  What  good  to  come  of  it, 
if  he  hath  found  out  ?  And  a'  might,  if  ever  a  body  did, 
from  the  way  he  gocth  jumping  about  forever,  and  never 
hold  fast  to  anything.  A  nice  thing  'twould  be  for  the 
fools  to  say,  perpetual  motion  come  from  Anerley  Farm  !" 

"  You  never  will  think  any  good  of  him,  Stephen,  be- 
cause his  mind  comes  from  my  side.  But  wait  till  you  sec 
the  £10,000." 

"  That  I  will,  and  thank  the  Lord  to  live  so  long.  But 
to  come  to  common-sense — how  was  Mary  and  Harry  a-car- 
rying  on  this  afternoon  ?" 

"  Not  so  very  bad,  father  ;  and  nothing  good  to  speak 
of.  He  kept  on  very  well  from  the  corners  of  his  eyes  ; 
but  she  never  corresponded,  so  to  speak — same  as — you 
know. J ' 

"  The  same  as  you  used  to  do  when  you  was  young. 
Well,  manners  may  be  higher  stylish  now.  Did  he  ask  her 
about  the  hay-rick  ?" 

4  *  That  he  did.  Three  or  four  times  over;  exactly  as 
you  said  it  to  him.  He  knew  that  was  how  you  got  the 
upper  hand  of  me  according  to  your  memory,  but  not1 
mine  ;  and  he  tried  to  do  it  the  very  same  way  ;  but  the 
Lord  makes  a  lot  of  change  in  thirty  years  of  time.  Mary 
quite  turned  her  nose  up  at  any  such  riddle,  and  ho  pulled 
his  spotted  handkerchief  out  of  that  new  hat  of  his,  and  the 
fagot  never  saw  fit  to  heed  even  the  color  of  his  poor  red 
cheeks.  Stephen,  you  would  have  marched  off  for  a  week 
if  I  had  behaved  to  you  so." 

"  And  the  right  way,  too  ;  I  shall  put  him  up  to  that. 
Long  sighs  only  leads  to  turn-up  noses.  He  plays  too 
knuckle-down  at  it.  You  should  go  on  with  your  sweet- 


444  MAHY   AKERLEY. 

heart  very  mild  at  first  ;  just  a-fceling  for  her  finger-tips  ; 
and  emboldening  of  her  to  believe  that  you  are  frightened, 
and  bringing  her  to  peep  at  you  as  if  you  was  a  blackbird, 
ready  to  pop  out  of  sight.  That  makes  'em  wonderful  cu- 
rious and  eager,  and  sticks  you  into  'em,  like  prickly  spinach. 
But  you  mustn't  stop  too  long  like  that.  You  must  come 
out  large,  as  a  bull  runs  up  to  gate  ;  and  let  them  see  that 
you  could  smash  it  if  you  liked,  but  feel  a  goodness  in  your 
heart  that  keeps  you  out  of  mischief.  And  then  they  comes 
up,  and  they  says,  '  poor  fellow  !  ' 

"  Stephen,  I  do  not  approve  of  such  expressions  or  any 
such  low  opinions.  You  may  know  how  you  went  on. 
Such  things  may  have  answered  once  ;  because  of  your 
being — yourself,  you  know.  But  Mary,  although  she  may 
nee  have  my  sense,  must  have  her  own  opinions.  And  the 
more  you  talk  of  what  we  used  to  do — though  I  never 
remember  your  trotting  up,  like  a  great  bull  roaring,  to  any 
kind  of  gate — the  less  I  feel  inclined  to  force  her.  And 
who  is  Harry  Tanfield,  after  all  ?" 

"  We  know  all  about  him,"  the  farmer  answered  ;  "  and 
that  is  something  to  begin  with.  His  land  is  worth  fifteen 
shillings  an  acre  less  than  ours,  and  full  of  kid-bine.  But, 
for  all  that,  he  can  keep  a  family,  and  is  a  good  home- 
dweller.  However,  like  the  rest  of  us,  in  the  way  of 
women,  he  must  bide  his  bolt,  and  bode  it. ' ' 

"  Father,"  the  mistress  of  the  house  replied,  "  I  shall 
never  go  one  step  out  of  my  way  to  encourage  a  young  man 
who  makes  you  speak  so  lightly  of  those  you  owe  so  much 
to.  Harry  Tanfield  may  take  his  chance  for  me." 

"  So  a'  may  for  me,  mother — so  a'  may  for  me.  If  a' 
was  to  have  our  Mary,  his  father  George  would  be  coming 
up  between  us,  out  of  his  peace  in  church-yard,  more  than 
he  doth  a' ready  ;  and  a'  comes  too  much  a' ready.  Why, 
poppet,  we  were  talking  of  you — fie,  fie,  listening  !" 

"  No,  now,  father,"  Mary  Anerley  answered,  with  a 
smile  at  such  alow  idea;  "you  never  had  that  to  find 
fault  with  me,  I  think.  And  if  you  are  plotting  against  me 
for  my  good — as  mother  loves  to  put  it — it  would  be  the 
best  way  to  shut  me  out  before  you  begin  to  do  it." 

'  Why  bless  my  heart  and  soul,"  exclaimed  the  farmer, 


A   BOLD   ANGLE tt.  445 

with  a  most  crafty  laugh — for  he  meant  to  kill  two  birds 
with  one  stone — u  if  the  lass  liathn't  got  her  own  dear 
mother's  tongue,  and  the  very  same  way  of  turning  things  ! 
There  never  hath  been  such  a  time  as  this  here.  The  chil- 
der  tell  us  what  to  do,  and  their  mothers  tell  us  what  not  to 
do.  Better  take  the  business  off  my  hands,  and  sell  all  they 
turnips  as  is  rotting.  Women  is  cheats,  and  would  war- 
rant 'em  sound,  with  the  best  to  the  top  of  the  bury.  But 
mind  you  one  thing — if  I  retires  from  business,  like  Bro- 
ther Popplewell,  I  shall  expect  to  be  supported  ;  cheap,  but 
very  substantial. " 

tc  Mary,  you  are  wicked  to  say  such  things,"  Mistress 
Anerley  began,  as  he  went  out,  "  when  you  know  that  your 
dear  father  is  such  a  substantial  silent  man." 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

A    BOLD     ANGLER. 

As  if  in  vexation  at  being  thwarted  by  one  branch  of  the 
family,  Cupid  began  to  work  harder  at  the  other,  among 
the  moors  and  mountains.  Not  that  either  my  Lady  Phi- 
lippa  or  gentle  Mistress  Carnaby  fell  back  into  the  snares  of 
youth,  but  rather  that  youth,  contemptuous  of  age,  leaped 
up,  and  defied  everybody  but  itself,  and  cried  tush  to  its 
own  welfare. 

For  as  soon  as  the  trance  of  snow  was  gone,  and  the 
world,  emboldened  to  behold  itself  again,  smiled  up  from 
genial  places  ;  and  the  timid  step  of  peeping  spring  awoke 
a  sudden  flutter  in  the  breast  of  buds  ;  and  streams  (having 
sent  their  broken  anger  to  the  sea)  were  pleased  to  be  mur- 
muring clearly  again,  and  enjoyed  their  own  flexibility  ;  and 
even  stern  mountains  and  menacing  crags  allowed  soft  light 
to  play  with  them — at  such  a  time  prudence  found  very 
narrow  house-room  in  the  breast  of  young  Lancelot,  other- 
wise ''Pet." 

"  If  Prudence  be  present,  no  divinity  is  absent,"  accord- 
ing to  high  authority  ;  but  the  author  of  the  proverb  must 


44G  MARY    AKEKLEY. 

have  first  excluded  Love  from  the  list  of  divinities.  Pet's 
breast,  or  at  any  rate  his  chest,  had  grown  under  the  ex- 
pansive enormity  of  love  ;  his  liver,  moreover  (which,  ac- 
cording to  poets,  both  Latin  and  Greek,  is  the  especial 
throne  of  love),  had  quickened  its  proceedings,  from  the 
exercise  he  took  ;  from  the  same  cause,  his  calves  increased 
so  largely  that  even  Jordas  could  not  pull  the  agate  buttons 
of  his  gaiters  through  their  holes.  In  a  word,  he  gained 
flesh,  muscle,  bone,  and  digestion,  and  other  great  bodily 
blessings,  from  the  power  believed  by  the  poets  to  upset 
and  annihilate  every  one  of  them.  However,  this  proves 
nothing  anti-poetical,  for  the  essence  of  that  youth  was  to 
contradict  experience. 

Jordas  had  never,  in  all  his  born  days,  not  even  in  the 
thick  of  the  snow-drift,  found  himself  more  in  a  puzzle 
than  now  ;  and  he  could  not  even  fly  for  advice  in  this  mat- 
ter to  Lawyer  Jellicorse.  The  first  great  gift  of  nature,  ex- 
pelled by  education,,  is  gratitude.  A  child  is  full  of  grati- 
tude, or  at  least  has  got  the  room  for  it  ;  but  no  full-grown 
mortal,  after  good  education,  has  been  known  to  keep  the 
rudiments  of  thankfulness.  But  Jordas  had  a  stock  of  it — 
as  much  as  can  remain  to  any  one  superior  to  the  making 
of  a  cross. 

Now  the  difficulty  of  it  was  that  Jordas  called  to  mind, 
every  morning  when  he  saw  snow,  and  afterward  when  he 
saw  anything  white,  that  he  must  have  required  a  grave, 
and  not  got  it  (in  time  to  be  any  good  to  him),  without  the 
hard  labor,  strong  endurance,  and  brotherly  tendance  of  the 
people  of  the  gill.  Even  the  three  grand  fairy  gifts  of 
Lawyer  Jellicorse  himself  might  scarcely  have  saved  him, 
although  they  were  no  less  than  as  follows,  in  virtue  :  the 
tip  of  a  tongue  that  had  never  told  a  lie  (because  it  belonged 
to  a  bullock  slain  young),  a  flask  of  old  Scotch  whiskey, 
and  a  horn  comfit-box  of  Irish  snuff.  All  these  three  had 
stood  him  in  good  stead,  especially  the  .last,  which  kept 
him  wide-awake,  and  enabled  him  to  sneeze  a  yellow  hole 
in  the  drift,  whenever  it  threatened  to  ingulf  his  beard. 
Without  those  three  he  could  never  have  got  on  ;  but,  with 
all  the  three,  he  could  never  have  got  out,  if  Bat  and 
Maunder  of  the  gill  had  not  come  to  his  succor  in  the  very 


A    HOLD    AKULK1L 

nick  of  time.  Not  only  did  they  work  hard  for  hours  under 
the  guidance  of  Saracen  (who  was  ready  to  fly  at  them  if  they 
left  off),  but  when  at  length  they  came  on  Jordas,  in  his 
last  exhaustion,  with  the  good  horse  rubbing  up  his  chin  to 
make  him  warmer,  they  did  a  sight  of  things,  which  the 
good  Samaritan,  having  finer  climate,  was  enabled  to  dis- 
pense with.  And  when  they  had  set  him  on  his  legs  again, 
finding  that  he  could  not  use  them  yet,  they  hoisted  him  on 
the  back  of  Maunder,  who  was  strong  ;  and  the  whole  of 
that  expedition  ended  at  the  little  cottage  in  the  gill.  But 
the  kindness  of  the  inhabitants  was  only  just  beginning  ; 
for  when  Jordas  came  to  himself  he  found  that  his  off- 
foot — as  Marmaduke  would  have  called  it — the  one  which 
had  ridden  with  a  north-east  aspect,  was  frozen  as  hard  as  a 
hammer,  and  as  blue  as  a  pistol-barrel.  Mrs.  Bart  hap- 
pened to  have  seen  such  cases  in  her  native  country,  and  by 
her  skilful  treatment  and  never-wearying  care,  the  poor 
fellow's  foot  was  saved  and  cured,  though  at  one  time  he 
despaired  of  it.  Marmaduke  also  was  restored,  and  sent 
home  to  his  stable  some  days  before  his  rider  was  in  a  con- 
dition to  mount  him. 

In  return  for  all  these  benefits,  how  could  the  dogman, 
without  being  worse  than  a  dog,  go  and  say  to  his  ladies 
that  mischief  was  breeding  between  their  heir  and  a  poor 
girl  who  lived  in  a  corner  of  their  land  ?  If  he  had  been 
ungrateful,  or  in  any  way  a  sneak,  he  might  have  found  no 
trouble  in  this  thing  ;  but  being,  as  he  was,  an  honest, 
noble-hearted  fellow,  he  battled  severely  in  his  mind  to  set 
up  the  standard  of  the  proper  side  to  take.  For  such  mat- 
ters Pet  cared  not  one  jot.  Crafty  as  he  was,  he  could 
never  understand  that  Jordas  and  Welldrum  were  not  the 
same  man,  one  half  working  out  of  doors,  and  the  other  in. 
For  him  it  was  enough  that  Jordas  would  not  tell,  probably 
because  he  was  afraid  to  do  so,  and  Pet  resolved  to  make 
him  useful.  For  Lancelot  Carnaby  was  very  sharp  indeed 
in  espying  what  suited  his  purpose.  His  set  purpose  was 
to  marry  Insie  Bart,  in  whom  he  had  sense  enough  to  per- 
ceive his  better,  in  every  respect  but  money  and  birth,  in 
which  two  he  was  before  her,  or  at  any  rate  supposed  so. 
lie  was  proud,  as  need  be,  of  his  station  in  life  ;  but  ho 


448  MAKY   ASTERLEY. 

reasoned — if  tlic  process  of  his  mind  was  reason — that  be- 
ing so  exalted,  he  might  please  himself  ;  that  his  wife 
would  rise  to  his  rank,  instead  of  lowering  him  ;  that  her 
father  was  a  man  of  education  and  a  gentleman,  although  he 
worked  with  his  own  hands  ;  and  that  Insie  was  a  lady, 
though  she  went  to  fill  a  pitcher. 

For  one  happy  fact  the  youth  deserved  some  credit,  or 
rather,  perhaps,  his  youth  deserved  it  for  him.  He  was  madly 
in  love  with  Insie,  and  his  passion  could  not  be  of  very  high 
spiritual  order  ;  but  the  idea  of  obtaining  her  dishonorably 
never  occurred  to  his  mind  for  one  moment.  He  knew  her 
to  be  better,  purer,  and  nobler  than  himself  in  every  way  ; 
and  he  felt,  though  he  did  not  want  to  feel  it,  that  her  na- 
ture gave  a  lift  to  his.  Insie,  on  the  other  hand,  began  to 
like  him  better,  and  to  despise,  him  less  and  less  ;  his  reck- 
less devotion  to  her  made  its  way  ;  and  in  spite  of  all  her 
common-sense,  his  beauty  and  his  lordly  style  had  attractions 
for  her  young  romance.  And  at  last  her  heart  began  to 
bound,  like  his,  when  they  were  together.  "  With  all  thy 
faults,  I  love  thee  still,"  was  the  loose  condition  of  her 
youthful  mind. 

Into  every  combination,  however  steep  and  deep  be  the 
gill  of  its  quiet  incubation,  a  number  of  people  and  of 
things  peep  in,  and  will  enter,  like  the  cuckoo,  at  the 
glimpse  of  a  white  feather,  or  even  without  it,  unless  beak 
and  claw  are  shown.  And  now  the  intruder  into  Pet's 
love-nest  had  the  right  to  look  in,  and  to  pull  him  out,  neck 
and  crop,  unless  he  sat  there  legally.  Whether  birds  dis- 
charge fraternal  duty  is  a  question  for  Notes  and  Queries 
even  in  the  present  most  positive  age.  Sophocles  says  that 
the  clever  birds  feed  their  parents  and  their  benefactors, 
and  men  ascribe  piety  to  them  in  fables,  as  a  needful  en- 
sample  to  one  another. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  this  Maunder  Bart,  when  his  rather 
slow  attention  was  once  aroused,  kept  a  sharp  watch  upon 
his  young  landlord's  works.  It  was  lucky  for  Pet  that  he 
meant  no  harm,  and  that  Maunder  had  contemptuous  faith 
in  him  ;  otherwise  Insie's  brother  would  have  shortly  taken 
him  up  by  his  gaiters  and  softly  beaten  his  head  in  against  a 
rock.  For  Mr.  Bart's  son  was  of  bitter,  morose,  and  al- 


A    BOLD   ANGLER.  449 

most  savage  nature,  silent,  moody,  and  as  resolute  as  death. 
He  resented  and  darkly  repined  at  the  loss  of  position  and 
property  of  which  he  had  heard,  and  he  scorned  the  fine 
sentiments  which  had  led  to  nothing  at  all  substantial.  It 
was  not  in  his  power  to  despise  his  father,  for  his  mind  felt 
the  presence  of  the  larger  one  ;  but  he  did  not  love  him  as 
a  son  should  do  ;  neither  did  he  speak  out  his  thoughts  to 
anybody  beyond  a  few  mutters  to  his  mother.  But  he 
loved  his  gentle  sister,  and  found  in  her  a  goodness  which 
warmed  him  up  to  think  about  getting  some  upon  his  own 
account. 

Such  thoughts,  however,  were  fugitive,  and  Maunder 's 
more  general  subject  of  brooding  was  the  wrong  he  had 
suffered  through  his  father.  He  was  living  and  working 
like  a  peasant  or  a  miner,  instead  of  having  horses,  and  dogs, 
and  men,  and  the  right  to  kick  out  inferior  people — as  that 
baby  Lancelot  Carnaby  had — for  no  other  reason,  that  he 
could  find,  than  the  magnitude  of  his  father's  mind.  He 
had  gone  into  the  subject  with  his  father  long  ago — for 
Mr.  Bart  felt  a  noble  pride  in  his  convictions — and  the  son 
lamented  Avith  all  his  heart  the  extent  of  his  own  father's 
mind.  In  his  lonely  walks,  heavy  hours,  and  hard  work — 
which  last  he  never  grudged,  for  his  strength  required  out- 
let— he  pondered  continually  upon  one  thing,  and  now  he 
seemed  to  see  a  chance  of  doing  it.  The  first  step  in  his 
upward  course  would  be  Insie's  marriage  with  Lancelot. 

Pet,  who  had  no  fear  of  any  one  but  Maunder,  tried  crafty 
little  tricks  to  please  him  ;  but,  instead  of  earning  many 
thanks,  got  none  at  all,  which  made  him  endeavor  to  im- 
prove himself.  Mr.  Bart's  opinion  of  him  now  began  to 
follow  the  course  of  John  Smithies's,  and  Smithies  looked 
at  it  in  one  light  only  (ever  since  Pet  so  assaulted  him,  and 
then  trusted  to  his  good- will  across  the  dark  moors),  and 
that  light  was  that  "  when  you  come  to  think  of  him,  you 
mustn't  be  too  hard  upon  him  after  all."  And  one  great 
excellence  of  this  youth  was  that  he  cared  not  a  doit  for 
general  opinion,  so  long  as  he  got  his  own  special  desire. 

His  desire  was  not  to  let  a  day  go  by  without  sight  and 
touch  of  Insie.     These  were  not  to  be  had  at  a  moment's 
notice,  nor  even  by  much  care  ;  and  five  times  out  of  six 
29 


450  MARY   AKERLEY. 

he  failed  of  so  much  as  a  glimpse  or  a  word  of  her.  For  the 
weather  and  the  time  of  year  have  much  to  say  concerning 
the  course  of  the  very  truest  love,  and  worse  than  the 
weather  itself  too  often  is  the  cloudy  caprice  of  maiden 
mind. 

Insie's  father  must  have  known  what  attraction  drew  this 
youth  to  such  a  cold  unfurnished  spot,  and  if  he  had  been 
like  other  men,  he  would  either  have  nipped  in  the  bud  this 
passion,  or,  for  selfish  reasons,  fostered  it.  But  being  of 
large  theoretical  mind,  he  found  his  due  outlet  in  giving 
advice. 

It  is  plain  at  a  glance  that  in  such  a  case  the  mother  is 
the  proper  one  to  give  advice,  and  the  father  the  one  to  act 
strenuously.  But  now  Mrs.  Bart,  who  was  a  very  good 
lady,  and  had  gone  through  a  world  of  trouble  from  the 
want  of  money — the  which  she  had  cast  away  for  sake  of 
something  better — came  to  the  forefront  of  this  pretty  little 
business,  as  Insie's  mother,  vigorously. 

u  Christophare, "  she  said  to  her  husband,  "  not  often 
do  I  speak,  between  us,  of  the  affairs  it  is  wise  to  let  alone. 
But  now  of  our  dear  child  Inesa  it  is  just  that  I  should  in- 
sist something.  Mandaro,  which  you  call  English  Maunder, 
already  is  destroyed  for  life  by  the  magnitude  of  your  good 
mind.  It  is  just  that  his  sister  should  find  the  occasion  of 
reversion  to  her  proper  grade  of  life.  For  you,  Christo- 
phare, I  have  abandoned  all,  and  have  the  good  right  to 
claim  something  from  you.  And  the  only  thing  that  I  de- 
mand is  one — let  Inesa  return  to  the  lady. ' ' 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Bart,  who  had  that  sense  of  humor 
without  which  no  man  can  give  his  property  away,  "  I 
hope  that  she  never  has  departed  from  it.  But,  my  dear, 
as  you  make  such  a  point  of  it,  I  will  promise  not  to  inter- 
fere, unless  there  is  any  attempt  to  do  wrong,  and  intrap  a 
poor  boy  who  does  not  know  his  own  mind.  Insie  is  his 
equal  by  birth  and  education,  and  perhaps  his  superior  in 
that  which  comes  foremost  nowadays — the  money.  Dream 
not  that  he  is  a  great  catch,  my  dear  ;  I  know  more  of  that 
matter  than  you  do.  It  is  possible  that  he  may  stand  at  the 
altar  with  little  to  settle  upon  his  bride  except  his  bright 
waistcoat  and  gaiters. ' 7 


A   BOLD   AJSTGLER.  451 

"  Tush,  Christophare  !  You  are,  to  my  mind,  always 
an  enigma. " 

"  That  is  as  it  should  be,  and  keeps  me  interesting  still. 
But  this  is  a  mere  boy-and-girl  romance.  If  it  meant  any- 
thing, my  only  concern  would  be  to  know  whether  the  boy 
was  good.  If  not,  I  should  promptly  kick  him  back  to  his 
own  door. " 

' 1  From  my  observation  he  is  very  good — to  attend  to  his 
rights,  and  make  the  utmost  of  them." 

Mr.  Bart  laughed,  for  he  knew  that  a  little  hit  at  him- 
self was  intended  ;  and  very  often  now,  as  his  joints  began 
to  stiffen,  he  wished  that  his  youth  had  been  wiser.  He 
stuck  to  his  theories  still  ;  but  his  practice  would  have  been 
more  of  the  practical  kind,  if  it  had  come  back  to  be  done 
again.  But  his  children  and  his  wife  had  no  claim  to 
bring  up  anything,  because  everything  was  gone  before  he 
undertook  their  business.  However,  he  obtained  reproach 
— as  always  seems  to  happen — for  those  doings  of  his  early 
days  which  led  to  their  existence.  Still,  he  liked  to  make 
the  best  of  things,  and  laughed,  instead  of  arguing. 

For  a  short  time,  therefore,  Lancelot  Carnaby  seemed 
to  have  his  own  way  in  this  matter,  as  well  as  in  so  many 
others.  As  soon  as  spring  weather  unbound  the  streams, 
and  enlarged  both  the  spots  and  the  appetite  of  trout 
(which  mainly  thrive  together),  Pet  became  seized,  by  his 
own  account,  with  insatiable  love  of  angling.  The  beck  of 
the  gill,  running  into  the  Lune,  was  alive  in  those  unpoach- 
ing  days,  with  sweet  little  trout  of  a  very  high  breed,  play- 
ful, mischievous,  and  indulging  (while  they  provoked)  good 
hunger.  These  were  trout  who  disdained  to  feed  basely 
on  the  ground  when  they  could  feed  upward,  ennobling 
almost  every  gulp  with  a  glimpse  of  the  upper  creation.  Mrs. 
Carnaby  loved  these  "  graceful  creatures,"  a^s  she  always 
called  them,  when  fried  well  ;  and  she  thought  it  so  good  and 
so  clever  of  her  son  to  tempt  her  poor  appetite  with  them. 

i  '  Philippa,  he  knows — perhaps  your  mind  is  absent, ' '  she 
said,  as  she  put  the  fifth  trout  on  her  plate  at  breakfast  one 
fine  morning — "  he  feels  that  these  little  creatures  do  me 
good,  and  to  me  it  becomes  a  sacred  duty  to  endeavor  to 
eat  them." 


452  MARY   ANERLEY. 

"  You  seem  to  succeed  very  well,  Eliza." 

u  Yes,  dear,  I  manage  to  get  on  a  little,  from  a  sort  of 
sporting  feeling  that  appeals  to  me.  Before  I  begin  to  lift 
the  skins  of  any  of  these  little  darlings,  I  can  see  my  dear 
boy  standing  over  the  torrent,  with  his  wonderful  boldness, 
and  bright  eagle  eyes — " 

"  To  pull  out  a  fish  of  an  ounce  and  a  half.  Without 
any  disrespect  to  Pet,  whose  fishing  apparel  has  cost  £20, 
I  believe  that  Jordas  catches  every  one  of  them." 

Sad  to  say,  this  was  even  so  ;  Lancelot  tried  once  or 
twice,  for  some  five  minutes  at  a  time,  throwing  the  fly  as 
he  threw  a  skittle-ball  ;  but  finding  no  fish  at  once  respond- 
ing to  his  precipitance,  down  he  cast  the  rod,  and  left  the 
rest  of  it  to  Jordas,  But  inasmuch  as  he  brought  back  fish 
whenever  he  went  out  fishing,  and  looked  as  brilliant  and 
picturesque  as  a  salmon-fly,  in  his  new  costume,  his  mother 
was  delighted,  and  his  aunt,  being  full  of  fresh  troubles, 
paid  small  heed  to  him. 

For  as  soon  as  the  roads  became  safe  again,  and  an  hon- 
est attorney  could  enter  "  horse  hire  "  in  his  bill  without 
being  too  chivalrous,  and  the  ink  that  had  clotted  in  the 
good-will  time  began  to  form  black  blood  again,  Mr.  Jelli- 
corse  himself  resolved  legitimately  to  set  forth  upon  a  legal 
enterprise.  The  winter  had  shaken  him  slightly — for  even 
a  solicitor's  body  is  vulnerable  ;  and  well  for  the  clerk  of 
the  weather  it  is  that  no  action  lies  against  him — and  his 
good  wife  told  him  to  be  very  careful,  although  he  looked 
as  young  as  ever.  She  had  no  great  opinion  of  the  people 
he  was  going  to,  and  was  sure  that  they  would  be  too  high 
and  mighty  even  to  see  that  his  bed  was  aired.  For  her 
part,  she  hoped  that  the  reports  were  true  which  were  now 
getting  into  every  honest  person's  mouth  ;  and  if  he  would 
listen  to  a  Woman's  common- sense,  and  at  once  go  over  to 
the  other  side,  it  would  serve  them  quite  right,  and  be  the 
better  for  his  family,  and  give  a  good  lift  to  his  profession. 
But  his  honesty  was  stout,  and  vanquished  even  his  pride 
in  his  profession. 


PRIXCELY    TREATMENT.  453 

CHAPTER  L. 

PRINCELY     TREATMENT. 

"  THIS,  then,  is  what  you  have  to  say,"  cried  my  Jady 
Philippa,  in  a  tone  of  little  gratitude,  and  perhaps  not 
purely  free  from  wrath  ;  '  *  this  is  what  has  happened  while 
you  did  nothing." 

u  Madam,  I  assure  you,"  Mr.  Jellicorse  replied,  "  that 
no  one  point  has  been  neglected.  And  truly  I  am  bold 
enough — though  you  may  not  perceive  it — to  take  a  little 
credit  to  myself  for  the  skill  and  activity  of  my  proceedings. 
1  have  a  most  conceited  man  against  me  ;  no  member  at  all 
of  our  honored  profession  ;  but  rather  inclined  to  make  light 
of  us.  A  gentleman — if  one  may  so  describe  him — of  the 
name  of  Mordacks,  who  lives  in  a  den  below  a  bridge  in 
York,  and  has  very  long  harassed  the  law  by  a  sort  of 
cheap- jack,  slap-dash,  low-minded  style  of  doing  things. 
'  Jobbing,'  I  may  call  it — cheap  and  nasty  jobbing — not  at 
all  the  proper  thing,  from  a  correct  point  of  view.  '  A 
catch-penny  fellow,'  that's  the  proper  name  for  him — I  was 
trying  to  think  of  it,  half  the  way  from  Middleton." 

"  And  now,  in  your  eloquence,  you  have  hit  upon  it.  I 
can  easily  understand  that  such  a  style  of  business  would 
not  meet  with  your  approbation.  But,  Mr.  Jellicorse,  he 
seems  to  me  to  have  proved  himself  considerably  more  ac- 
tive in  his  way — however  objectionable  that  may  be — than 
you,  as  our  agent,  have  shown  yourself. ' ' 

The  cheerful,  expressive,  and  innocent  face  of  Mr.  Jelli- 
corse protested  now.  By  nature  he  was  almost  as  honest 
as  Geoffrey  Mordacks  himself  could  be  ;  and  in  spite  of  a 
very  long  professional  career,  the  original  element  was 
there,  and  must  be  charged  for. 

"  I  cannot  recall  to  my  memory,"  he  said,  "  any  instance 
of  neglect  on  my  part.  But  if  that  impression  is  upon 
your  mind,  it  would  be  better  for  you  to  change  your  legal 
advisers  at  an  early  opportunity.  Such  has  been  the  fre- 
quent practice,  madam,  of  your  family.  And  but  for 
that,  none  of  this  trouble  could  exist.  I  must  beg  you 
either  to  withdraw  the  charge  of  negligence,  which  I  under- 


454  MARY  AKEELEY. 

stand  vou  to  have  brought,  or  else  to  appoint  some  gentle- 
man of  greater  activity  to  conduct  your  business. ' ' 

With  the  haughtiness  of  her  headstrong  race,  Miss  Yor- 
das  had  failed  as  yet  to  comprehend  that  a  lawyer  could  be 
a  gentleman.  And  even  now  that  idea  scarcely  broke  upon 
her  until  she  looked  hard  at  Mr.  Jellicorse.  But  he,  hav- 
ing cast  aside  all  deference  for  the  moment,  met  her  stern 
gaze  with  such  courteous  indifference  and  poise  of  self-com- 
posure that  she  suddenly  remembered  that  his  grandfather 
had  been  the  master  of  a  pack  of  fox-hounds. 

"  I  have  made  no  charge  of  negligence  ;  you  are  hasty, 
and  misunderstand  me,"  she  answered,  after  waiting  for 
him  to  begin  again,  as  if  he  were  a  rash  aggressor.  "  It  is 
possible  that  you  desire  to  abandon  our  case,  and  con- 
ceive affront  where  none  is  meant  whatever." 

"  God  forbid  !"  Mr.  Jellicorse  exclaimed,  with  his  legal 
state  of  mind  returning.  "  A  finer  case  never  came  into 
any  court  of  law.  There  is  a  coarse  axiom,  not  without 
some  truth,  that  possession  is  nine  points  of  the  law.  We 
have  possession.  What  is  even  more  important,  we  have 
the  hostile  instrument  in  our  possession." 

'  i  You  mean  that  unfortunate  and  unjust  deed,  of  a  by- 
gone time,  that  was  so  wickedly  concealed  ?  Dishonest 
transaction  from  first  to  last  !" 

' '  Madam,  the  law  is  not  to  blame  for  that,  nor  even  the 
lawyers  ;  but  the  clients,  who  kept  changing  them.  But 
for  that  your  admirable  father  must  have  known  that  the 
will  he  dictated  to  me  was  waste  paper.  At  least  as  regards 
the  main  part  of  these  demesnes. ' ' 

"  What  monstrous  injustice  !  A  positive  premium  upon 
filial  depravity.  You  regard  things  professionally,  I  sup- 
pose. But  surely  it  must  have  struck  you  as  a  flagrant  dis- 
honesty, a  base  and  wicked  crime,  that  a  document  so  vile 
should  be  allowed  even  to  exist." 

Miss  Yordas  had  spoken  with  unusual  heat  ;  and  the 
lawyer  looked  at  her  with  an  air  of  mild  inquiry.  Was  it 
possible  that  she  suggested  to  him  the  destruction  of  the 
wicked  instrument  ?  Ladies  had  done  queer  things,  within 
his  knowledge  ;  but  this  lady  showed  herself  too  cautious 
for  that. 


PRINCELY    TREATMENT.  455 

"  I  know  what  my  father  would  have  done  in  such  a 
case,"  she  continued,  with  her  tranquil  smile  recovered  : 
"  he  would  just  have  ridden  jup  to  his  solicitor's  office, 
demanded  the  implement  of  robbery,  brought  it  home, 
and  set  it  upon  the  hall  fire,  in  the  presence  of  the  whole 
of  his  family  and  household.  But  now  we  live  in  such  a 
strictly  lawful  age  that  no  crime  can  be  stopped,  if  only 
perpetrated  legally.  And  you  say  that  Mr.  More — some- 
thing, 4  Moresharp,'  I  think  it  was,  knows  of  that  iniqui- 
tous production  ?" 

"  Madam,  we  cannot  be  certain  ;  but  I  have  reason  to 
suspect  that  Mr.  Mordacks  has  got  wind  of  that  unfortunate 
deed  of  appointment. ' ' 

"  Supposing  that  he  has,  and  that  he  means  to  use  his 
knowledge,  he  cannot  force  the  document  from  your  pos- 
session, can  he  ?" 

"  Not  without  an  order.  But  by  filing  affidavit  after 
issue  of  writ  in  ejectment,  they  may  compel  us  to  produce, 
and  allow  attested  copy  to  be  taken.'' 

"  Then  the  law  is  disgraceful  to  the  last  degree,  and  it  is 
useless  to  own  anything.  That  deed  is  in  your  charge,  as 
our  attorney,  I  suppose,  sir?" 

"  By  no  other  right,  madam  ;  we  have  twelve  chestfuls, 
any  one  or  all  of  which  I  am  bound  to  render  up  to  your 
order. ' ' 

"  Our  confidence  in  you  is  unshaken.  But  without  shak- 
ing it  we  might  order  home  any  particular  chest  for  inspec- 
tion ?" 

"  Most  certainly,  madam,  by  giving  us  receipt  for  it. 
For  antiquarian  uses,  and  others,  such  a  thing  is  by  no 
means  irregular.  And  the  oldest  of  all  the  deeds  are  in  that 
box — charters  from  the  crown,  grants  from  corporations, 
records  of  assay  by  arms — warrants  that  even  I  cannot  de- 
cipher. ' ' 

"  A  very  learned  gentleman  is  likely  soon  to  visit  us  ;  a 
man  of  modern  family,  who  spends  his  whole  time  in  seek- 
ing out  the  stories  of  the  older  ones.  No  family  in  York- 
shire is  comparable  to  ours  in  the  interest  of  its  annals." 

"  That  is  a  truth  beyond  all  denial,  madam.  The  char- 
acter of  your  ancient  race  has  always  been  a  marked  one." 


456  MARY   AKERLEY. 

"  And  always  honorable,  Mr.  Jellicorse.  Undeviating 
principle  has  distinguished  all  my  ancestors.  Nothing  has 
ever  been  allowed  to  stand  between  them  and  their  view 
of  right. " 

"  You  could  not  have  put  it  more  clearly,  Mistress  Yor- 
das.  Their  own  view  of  right  has  been  their  guiding  star 
throughout.  And  they  never  have  failed  to  act  accord- 
ingly." 

"  Alas  !  of  how  very  few  others  can  we  say  it  !  But 
being  of  a  very  good  old  family  yourself,  you  are  able  to 
appreciate  such  conduct.  You  would  like  me,  perhaps,  to 
sign  the  order  for  that  box  of  ancient — cartularies,  is  not 
that  the  proper  word  for  them  ?  And  it  might  be  as  well 
to  state  why  they  happen  to  be  wanted — for  purposes  of 
family  history. ' ' 

"  Madam,  I  will  at  once  prepare  a  memorandum  for  your 
signature  and  your  sister's." 

The  mind  of  Mr.  Jellicorse  was  much  relieved,  although 
the  relief  was  not  untempered  with  misgivings.  He  sat 
down  immediately  at  an  ancient  writing-table,  and  prepared 
a  short  order  for  delivery,  to  their  trusty  servant  Jordas, 
of  a  certain  box,  with  the  letter  C  upon  it,  and  contain- 
ing title-deeds  of  Scargate  Hall  estate. 

4 '  I  think  it  might  be  simpler  not  to  put  it  so  precisely, ' ' 
my  lady  Philippa  suggested,  "  but  merely  to  say  a  box  con- 
taining the  oldest  of  the  title-deeds,  as  required  for  an  im- 
pending antiquarian  research. ' ' 

Mr.  Jellicorse  made  the  amendment  ;  and  then  with  the 
prudence  of  long  practice,  added  :  ' '  The  order  should  be 
in  your  handwriting,  madam  ;  will  it  give  you  too  much 
trouble  just  to  copy  it  ?" 

"  How  can  it  signify  if  it  bears  our  signatures  ?"  his 
client  asked,  with  a  smile  at  such  a  trifle  ;  however,  she 
sat  down  and  copied  it  upon  another  sheet  of  paper.  Then 
Mr.  Jellicorse,  beautifully  bowing,  drew  near  to  take  pos- 
session of  his  own  handwriting  ;  but  the  lady,  with  a  bow 
of  even  greater  elegance,  lifted  the  cover  of  the  standing 
desk,  and  therein  placed  both  manuscripts  ;  and  the  lawyer 
perceived  that  he  could  say  nothing. 

"How  delightful  it  is  to  be   quit  of  business!"    The 


PRINCELY    TREATMENT.  457 

hostess  now  looked  hospitable.  "  We  need  not  recur  to  this 
matter,  I  do  hope.  That  paper,  whatever  it  is,  will  be 
signed  by  both  of  us,  and  handed  over  to  you,  in  your  legal 
head-quarters,  to-morrow.  We  must  have  the  pleasure  of 
sending  you  home  in  the  morning,  Mr.  Jellicorse.  We 
have  bought  a  very  wonderful  vehicle,  invented  for  such 
roads  as  ours,  and  to  supersede  the  jumping-car.  It  is  war- 
ranted to  traverse  any  place  a  horse  can  travel,  with  luxu- 
rious ease  to  the  passengers,  and  safety  of  no  common  de- 
scription. Jordas  will  drive  you  ;  your  horse  can  trot  be- 
hind ;  and  you  can  send  back  by  it  whatever  there  may  be. ' ' 

Mr.  Jellicorse  detested  new  inventions,  and  objected  most 
strongly  to  any  experiment  made  in  his  own  body.  How- 
ever, he  would  rather  die  than  plead  his  time  of  life  in  bar, 
and  his  faith  in  the  dogman  was  unlimited.  And  now  the 
gentle  Mrs.  Garnaby,  who  had  gracefully  taken  flight  from 
"  horrid  business,"  returned  in  an  evening  dress,  and  with 
a  sweetly  smiling  countenance,  and  very  nearly  turned  the 
Jellicorsian  head,  snowy  as  it  was,  with  soft  attentions  and 
delicious  deference." 

"  I  was  treated  like  a  prince,"  he  said  next  day,  when 
delivered  safe  at  home,  and  resting  among  his  rather  dingy 
household  gods.  "  There  never  could  have  been  a  more 
absurd  idea  than  that  notion  of  yours  about  my  being  put 
into  wet  sheets,  Diana.  Why,  I  even  had  my  night-cap 
warmed  ;  and  a  young  woman  came,  with  a  blush  upon  her 
face,  and  a  question  whether  I  would  be  pleased  to  sleep  in 
a  gross  of  Naples  stockings  !  Ah,  to  my  mind,  after  all, 
it  proves  what  I  have  always  said — that  there  is  nothing 
like  old  blood." 

"  Nothing  like  old  blood  for  being  made  a  fool  of,"  his 
wife  replied  with  a  coarseness  which  made  him  shiver,  after 
Mrs.  Carnaby.  li  They  know  what  they  are  about,  I'll  lay 
a  penny.  Some  roguery,  no  doubt,  that  they  seek  to  lead 
you  into.  That  is  what  their  night-caps  and  stockings 
mean.  How  low  it  is  to  make  a  foreground  of  them  !" 

"  Hush,  my  dear  !  I  cannot  bear  such  want  of  charity. 
And  what  is  even  worse,  you  expose  me  to  an  action  at  law, 
with  heavy  damages. ' ' 

The  lawyer  had  sundry  little  qualms  of  conscience,  which 


458  MARY  AITERLEY. 

were  deepened  by  his  wife's  sagacious  words  ;  and  suddenly 
it  struck  him  that  the  new-fangled  vehicle  which  had 
brought  him  home  so  quietly  from  Scargate  had  shown  a 
strange  inability  to  stand  still  for  more  than  two  minutes  at 
his  side  door.  So  much  had  he  been  hurried  by  the  ap- 
parent straits  of  his  charioteer  that  he  ran  out  with  box  C 
without  ever  stopping  to  make  an  inventory  of  its  contents 
— as  he  intended  to  do — or  even  looking  whether  the  all- 
important  deed  was  there.  In  fact,  he  had  scarcely  time 
to  seal  up  the  key  in  a  separate  package,  hand  it  to  Jordas, 
and  take  the  order  (now  become  a  receipt)  from  the  horny 
fist  of  the  dogman,  before  Marmaduke,  rendered  more  dash- 
ing by  snow-drift,  was  away  like  a  thunder-bolt — if  such  a 
thing  there  be,  and  if  it  has  four  legs. 

"  How  could  I  have  helped  doing  as  I  have  done  ?"  he 
whispered  to  himself  uncomfortably.  "  Here  are  two  la- 
dies of  high  position,  and  they  send  a  joint  order  for  their 
property.  By  the  bye,  I  will  just  have  a  look  at  that  order, 
now  that  there  is  no  horse  to  jump  over  me."  Upon  going 
to  the  day  file,  he  found  the  order  right,  transcribed  from 
his  own  amended  copy,  and  bearing  two  signatures,  as  it 
should  do.  But  it  struck  him  that  the  words  "  Eliza  Car- 
naby"  were  written  too  boldly  for  that  lady's  hand  ;  and 
the  more  he  looked  at  them  the  more  he  was  convinced  of 
it.  That  was  no  concern  of  his,  for  it  was  not  his  duty, 
under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  to  verify  her  signature. 
But  this  conviction  drove  him  to  an  uncomfortable  conclu- 
sion— "  Miss  Yordas  intends  to  destroy  that  deed  without 
her  sister's  knowledge.  She  knows  that  her  sister's  nerve 
is  weaker,  and  she  does  not  like  to  involve  her  in  the  job. 
A  very  brave,  sisterly  feeling,  no  doubt,  and  much  the  wiser 
course,  if  she  means  to  do  it.  It  is  a  bold  stroke,  and  well 
worthy  of  a  Yordas.  But  I  hope,  with  all  my  heart,  that 
she  never  can  have  thought  of  it.  And  she  kept  that  order 
in  my  handwriting  to  make  it  look  as  if  the  suggestion 
came  from  me  !  And  I  am  as  innocent  as  any  lamb  is  of 
the  frauds  that  shall  come  to  be  written  on  his  skin.  The 
duty  of  attorney  toward  client  prevents  me  from  opening 
my  lips  upon  the  matter.  But  she  is  a  deep  woman,  and  a 
bold  one  too.  May  the  Lord  direct  things  aright  !  I  shall 


STAND   AND   DELIVER.  459 

retire  and  let  Robert  have  the  practice  as  soon  as  Brown's 
bankruptcy  has  worn  out  captious  creditors.  It  is  the  Lord 
alone  that  doeth  all  things  well." 

Mr.  Jellicorse  knew  that  he  had  done  his  best  ;  and 
though  doubtful  of  the  turn  which  things  had  taken,  with 
some  exclusion  of  his  agency,  he  felt  (though  his  conscience 
told  him  not  to  feel  it)  that  here  was  one  true  source  of 
joy.  That  impudent,  dashing,  unprofessional  man,  who 
was  always  poking  his  vile  unarticled  nose  into  legal  busi- 
ness, that  fellow  of  the  name  of  Mordacks,  now  would  have 
no  locus  standi  left.  At  least  a  hundred  and  fifty  firms,  of 
good  standing  in  the  county,  detested  that  man,  and  even  a 
judge  would  import  a  scintillula  juris  into  any  measure 
which  relieved  the  country  of  him.  Meditating  thus,  he 
heard  a  knock. 


CHAPTER    LI. 

STAND     AND      DELIVER. 

THE  day  was  not  far  worn  as  yet  ;  and  May  month  hav- 
ing come  at  last,  the  day  could  stand  a  good  deal  of  wear. 
With  Jordas  burning  to  exhibit  the  wonders  of  the  new 
machine  (which  had  been  bought  upon  his  advice),  and 
with  Marmaduke  conscious  of  the  new  gloss  on  his  coat,  all 
previous  times  had  been  beaten — as  the  sporting  writers  put 
it  ;  that  is  to  say,  all  previous  times  of  the  journey  from 
Scargate  to  Middleton,  for  any  man  who  sat  on  wheels.  A 
rider  would  take  a  shorter  cut,  and  have  many  other  advan- 
tages ;  but  for  a  driver  the  time  had  been  the  quickest  upon 
record. 

Mr.  Jellicorse,  exulting  in  his  safety,  had  imprinted  the 
chaste  salute  upon  his  good  wife's  cheek  at  ten  minutes 
after  one  o'clock  ;  when  the  clerks  in  the  office  with  laud- 
able promptitude  (not  expecting  him  as  yet)  had  unanimously 
cast  down  pen,  and  betaken  hand  and  foot  toward  knife 
and  fork.  Instead  of  blaming  them,  this  good  lawyer  went 
upon  that  same  road  himself,  with  the  great  advantage  that 


460  MAKY  ASTEKLEY. 

the  road  to  his  dinner  lay  through  his  own  kitchen.  At 
dinner-time  he  had  much  to  tell,  and  many  large  helps  to 
receive,  of  interest  and  of  admiration,  especially  from  his 
pet  child  Emily  (who  forgot  herself  so  largely  as  to  lick  her 
spoon  while  gazing),  and  after  dinner  he  was  not  without 
reasons  for  letting  perhaps  a  little  of  the  time  slip  by. 
Therefore,  by  the  time  he  had  described  all  dangers,  dis- 
charged his  duty  to  all  comforts,  and  held  the  little  confi- 
dential talk  with  his  wife  and  himself,  above  recorded,  the 
clock  had  made  its  way  to  half -past  three. 

Mrs.  Jellicorse  and  Emily  were  gone  forth  to  pay  visits  ; 
the  clerks,  shut  away  in  their  own  room,  were  busy, 
scratching  up  a  lovely  case  for  nisi  prius  ;  the  cook  had 
thrown  the  sifted  cinders  on  the  kitchen  fire,  and  was  gone 
with  the  maids  to  exchange  just  a  few  constitutional  words 
with  the  gardener  ;  and  the  whole  house  was  drowsy  with 
that  by-time  when  light  and  shadow  seem  to  mix  together, 
and  far-away  sounds  take  a  faint  to  and  fro,  as  if  they  were 
the  pendulum  of  silence. 

"  That  is  Emily's  knock.  Impatient  child  !  Come  back 
for  her  mother's  gloves,  or  something.  All  the  people  are 
out  ;  I  must  go  and  let  her  in." 

With  these  words,  and  a  little  placid  frown — because  a 
soft  nap  was  impending  on  his  eyelids,  and  yet  they  were 
always  glad  to  open  on  his  favorite — the  worthy  lawyer 
rose,  and  took  a  pinch  of  snuff  to  rouse  himself  ;  but  before 
he  could  get  to  the  door,  a  louder  and  more  impatient  rap 
almost  made  him  jump. 

"  What  a  hurry  you  are  in,  my  dear  !  You  really  should 
try  to  learn  some  little  patience." 

While  he  was  speaking,  he  opened  the  door  ;  and  be- 
hold, there  was  no  little  girl,  but  a  tall  and  stately  gentle- 
man in  horseman's  dress,  and  of  strong  commanding  aspect. 

"  What  is  your  pleasure,  sir  ?"  the  lawyer  asked,  while 
his  heart  began  to  flutter;  for  exactly  such  a  visitor  had 
caused  him  scare  of  his  life,  when  stronger  by  a  quarter  of 
a  century  than  now. 

"  My  pleasure,  or  rather  my  business,  is  with  Mr.  Jelli- 
corse, the  lawyer." 

' '  Then,  sir,  you  have  come  to  the  right  man  for  it.     My 


STAND   AND   DELIVER.  461 

name  is  Jellicorse,  and  greatly  at  your  service.  Allow  me 
the  honor  of  inviting  you  within." 

li  My  name  is  Yordas — Sir  Duncan  Yordas, "  said  the 
stranger,  when  seated  in  the  lawyer's  private  room.  u  My 
father,  Philip  Yordas,  was  a  client  of  yours,  and  of  other 
legal  gentlemen  before  he  came  to  you.  Upon  the  day  of 
his  death,  in  the  year  1777,  you  prepared  his  will,  which 
you  have  since  found  to  be  of  no  effect,  except  as  regards 
his  personal  estate,  and  about  one  eighth  part  of  the  realty. 
Of  the  bulk  of  the  land,  including  Scargate  Hall,  he  could 
not  dispose,  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  had  been  strictly 
entailed  by  a  deed  executed  by  my  grandfather  and  his 
wife  in  1751.  Under  that  entail  I  take  in  fee,  for  it  could 
not  have  been  barred  without  me  ;  and  I  never  concurred 
in  any  disentailing  deed,  and  my  father  never  knew  that 
such  was  needful." 

'  i  Excuse  me,  Sir  Duncan,  but  you  seem  to  be  wonderfully 
apt  with  the  terms  of  our  profession." 

' '  I  could  scarcely  be  otherwise,  after  all  that  I  have  had 
to  do  with  law  in  India.  Our  first  object  is  to  apply  our 
own  laws,  and  our  second  to  spread  our  religion.  But  no 
more  of  that.  Do  you  admit  the  truth  of  a  matter  so  stated 
that  you  cannot  fail  to  grasp  it  ?" 

Sir  Duncan  Yordas,  as  he  put  this  question,  fixed  large, 
unwavering,  and  piercing  eyes  (against  which  no  spectacles 
were  any  shelter)  upon  the  mild,  amiable,  and,  generally 
speaking,  very  honest  orbs  of  sight  which  had  lighted  the 
path  of  the  elder  gentleman  to  good  repute  and  competence. 
But  who  may  turn  a  lawyer's  hand  from  the  heaven-sped 
legal  plough  ? 

"  Am  I  to  understand,  Sir  Duncan  Yordas,  that  your 
visit  to  me  is  of  an  amicable  nature,  and  intended  (without 
prejudice  to  other  interests)  to  ascertain,  so  far  as  may  be 
compatible  with  professional  rules,  how  far  my  clients  are 
acquainted  with  documents  alleged  or  imagined  to  be  in 
existence,  and  how  far  their  conduct  might  be  guided  by 
desire  to  afford  every  reasonable  facility  ?" 

"  You  are  to  understand  simply  this,  that  as  the  proper 
owner  of  Scargate  Hall,  and  the  main  part  of  the  estates 
held  with  it,  I  require  you  to  sign  a  memorandum  that  you 


462  MARY   ANEKLEY. 

hold  all  the  title-deeds  on  ray  behalf,  and  to  deliver  at  once 
to  me  that  entailing  instrument  of  1751,  under  which  I 
make  my  claim. ' ' 

"  You  speak,  sir,  as  if  you  had  already  brought  your 
action,  and  entered  verdict.  Legal  process  may  be  dis- 
pensed with  in  barbarous  countries,  but  not  here.  The 
title-deeds  and  other  papers  of  Scargate  Hall  were  placed  in 
my  custody  neither  by  you  nor  on  your  behalf,  sir.  I  hold 
them  on  behalf  of  those  at  present  in  possession  ;  and  until 
I  receive  due  instructions  from  them,  or  a  final  order  from 
a  court  of  law,  I  should  be  guilty  of  a  breach  of  trust  if  I 
parted  with  a  dog's-ear  of  them." 

li  You  distinctly  refuse  my  requirements,  and  defy  me 
to  enforce  them  ?" 

"  Not  so,  Sir  Duncan.  I  do  nothing  more  than  declare 
what  my  view  of  my  duty  is,  and  decline  in  any  way  to  de- 
part from  it. ' ' 

"  Upon  that  score  I  have  nothing  more  to  say.  I  did  not 
expect  you  to  give  up  the  deeds,  though  in  *  barbarous 
countries/  as  you  call  them,  we  have  peremptory  ways.  I 
will  say  more  than  that,  Mr.  Jellicorse — I  will  say  that  I 
respect  you  for  clinging  to  what  you  must  know  better  than 
anybody  else  to  be  the  weaker  side." 

The  lawyer  bowed  his  very  best  bow,  but  was  bound  to 
enter  protest  against  the  calm  assumption  of  the  claimant. 

"  Let  us  leave  that  question,7'  Sir  Duncan  said  ;  "  the 
time  would  fail  us  to  discuss  that  now.  But  one  thing  I 
surely  may  insist  upon  as  the  proper  heir  of  my  grand- 
father. I  may  desire  you  to  produce  for  my  inspection 
that  deed  in  pursuance  of  his  marriage  settlement,  which 
has  for  so  many  years  lain  concealed." 

"  With  pleasure  I  will  do  so,  Sir  Duncan  Yordas  (presum- 
ing that  any  such  deed  exists),  upon  the  production  of  an 
order  from  the  court  either  of  King's  Bench  or  of  Com- 
mon Pleas." 

"  In  that  case  you  would  be  obliged  to  produce  it,  and 
would  earn  no  thanks  of  mine.  But  I  ask  you  to  lay  aside 
the  legal  aspect  ;  for  no  action  is  pending,  and  perhaps 
never  will  be.  I  ask  you,  as  a  valued  adviser  of  the 
family,  and  a  trustworthy  friend  to  its  interests — as  a  gen- 


STAND   AHD   DELIVEE.  463 

tleman,  in  fact,  rather  than  a  mere  lawyer — to  do  a  wise 
and  amicable  thing.  You  cannot  in  any  way  injure  your 
case,  if  a  law  case  is  to  come  of  it,  because  we  know  all 
about  the  deed  already.  We  even  have  an  abstract  of  it  as 
clear  as  you  yourself  could  make,  and  we  have  discovered 
that  one  of  the  witnesses  is  still  alive.  I  have  come  to  you 
myself  in  preference  to  employing  a  lawyer,  because  I  hope, 
if  you  meet  me  frankly,  to  put  things  in  train  for  a  friendly 
and  fair  settlement.  I  am  not  a  young  man  ;  I  have  been 
disappointed  of  any  one  to  succeed  me,  and  I  wish  to  settle 
my  affairs  in  this  country,  and  return  to  India,  which  suits 
me  better,  and  where  I  am  more  useful.  My  sisters  have 
not  behaved  kindly  to  me  ;  but  that  I  must  try  to  forgive 
and  forget.  I  have  thought  matters  over,  and  am  quite 
prepared  to  offer  very  liberal  terms — in  short,  to  leave 
them  in  possession  of  Scargate,  upon  certain  conditions  and 
in  a  certain  manner. ' ' 

"  Really,  Sir  Duncan,"  Mr.  Jellicorse  exclaimed,  "  allow 
me  to  offer  you  a  pinch  of  snuff.  You  are  pleased  with  it  ? 
Yes,  it  is  of  quite  superior  quality.  It  saved  the  life  of  a 
most  admirable  fellow,  a  henchman  of  your  family — in  fact, 
poor  Jordas.  The  power  of  this  snuff  alone  supported  him 
from  freezing — " 

"  At  another  time  I  may  be  highly  interested  in  that 
matter/'  the  visitor  replied,  without  meaning  to  be  rude, 
but  knowing  that  the  man  of  law  was  making  passes  to  gain 
time  ;  "  just  at  present  I  must  ask  you  to  say  yes  or  no. 
If  you  wish  me  to  set  my  offer  plainly  before  you,  and  so 
relieve  the  property  of  the  cost  of  a  hopeless  struggle — for 
I  have  taken  the  opinion  of  the  first  real  property  counsel 
of  the  age — you  will,  as  a  token  of  good  faith  and  of  com- 
mon-sense, produce  for  my  inspection  that  deed-poll  of 
November  15,  1751. " 

Poor  Mr.  Jellicorse  was  desperately  driven.  He  looked 
round  the  room,  to  seek  for  any  interruption.  He  went  to 
the  window,  and  pretended  to  see  another  visitor  knocking 
at  the  door.  But  no  help  came  ;  he  must  face  it  out  him- 
self ;  and  Sir  Duncan,  with  his  quiet  resolution,  looked 
more  stern  than  his  violent  father. 

"  I  think  that  before  we  proceed  any  further,"  said  the 


464  MARY   ANERLEY. 

lawyer,  at  last  sitting  down,  and  taking  up  a  pen  and  trying 
what  the  nib  was  like,  ' '  we  really  should  understand  a  little 
where  we  are  already.  My  own  desire  to  avoid  litigation  is 
very  strong — almost  unprofessionally  so — though  the  first 
thing  consulted  by  all  of  us  naturally  is  the  pocket  of  our 
client—" 

44  Whether  it  will  hold  out,  I  suppose."  Sir  Duncan 
Yordas  departed  from  his  dignity  in  saying  this,  and  was 
sorry  as  soon  as  he  had  said  it. 

"  That  is  the  vulgar  impression  about  us,  which  it  is  our 
duty  to  disdain.  But  without  losing  time  upon  that  ques- 
tion, let  me  ask,  what  shall  I  put  down  as  your  proposition, 
sir?" 

"  There  is  nothing  to  put  down.  That  is  just  the  point. 
I  do  not  come  here  with  any  formal  proposition.  If  that 
had  been  my  object,  I  would  have  brought  a  lawyer. 
What  I  say  is  that  I  have  the  right  to  see  that  deed.  It 
forms  no  part  of  my  sisters'  title-deeds,  but  even  destroys 
their  title.  It  belongs  to  me,  it  is  my  property,  and  only 
through  fraud  is  it  now  in  your  hands.  Of  course  we  can 
easily  wrest  it  from  you,  and  must  do  so  if  you  defy  me. 
It  rests  with  you  to  take  that  risk.  But  I  prefer  to  cut 
things  short.  I  pledge  myself  to  two  things — first,  to  leave 
the  document  in  your  possession  ;  and  next,  to  offer  fair 
and  even  handsome  terms  when  you  have  met  me  thus 
fairly.  Why  should  you  object  ?  For  we  know  all  about 
it.  Never  mind  how." 

Those  last  three  words  decided  the  issue.  Even  worse 
than  the  fear  of  breach  of  trust  was  the  fear  of  treason  in 
the  office,  and  the  lawyer's  only  chance  of  getting  clew  to 
that  was  to  keep  on  terms  with  this  Sir  Duncan  Yordas. 
There  had  been  no  treason  whatever  in  the  office  ;  neither 
had  anything  come  out  through  the  proctorial  firm  in  York, 
or  Sir  Walter  Carnaby's  solicitors  ;  but  a  note  among  long- 
headed Duncombe's  papers  had  got  into  the  hands  of  Mor- 
dacks.  Of  that,  however,  Mr.  Jellicorse  had  no  idea. 

"  Sir  Duncan  Yordas,  I  will  meet  you  as  you  come,"  he 
said,  with  his  good,  fresh-colored  face,  as  honest  as  the  sun 
when  the  clouds  roll  off.  "  It  is  an  unusual  step  on  my 
part,  and  perhaps  irregular.  But  rather  than  destroy  the 


STAND   AND   DELIVER.  465 

prospect  of  a  friendly  compromise,  I  will  strain  a  point, 
and  candidly  admit  that  there  is  an  instrument  open  to  an 
interpretation  which  might,  or  might  not,  be  in  your 
favor." 

"  That  I  knew  long  ago,  and  more  than  that.  My  de- 
mand is — to  see  it,  and  to  satisfy  myself. ' ' 

"  Under  the  circumstances,  I  am  half  inclined  to  think 
that  I  should  be  disposed  to  allow  you  that  privilege  if  the 
document  were  in  my  possession. " 

"  Now,  Mr.  Jellicorse, "  Sir  Duncan  answered,  showing 
his  temper  in  his  eyes  alone,  "  how  much  longer  will  you 
trifle  with  me  ?  Where  is  that  deed  ?" 

Mr.  Jellicorse  drew  forth  his  watch,  took  off  his  specta- 
cles, and  dusted  them  carefully  with  a  soft  yellow  handker- 
chief ;  then  restored  them  to  their  double  sphere  of  useful- 
ness, and  perused,  with  some  diligence,  the  time  of  day. 
By  the  law  which  compels  a  man  to  sneeze  when  another 
man  sets  the  example,  Sir  Duncan  also  drew  forth  his 
watch. 

"  I  am  trying  to  make  my  reply  as  accurate,"  said  the 
lawyer,  beginning  to  enjoy  the  position  as  a  man,  though  • 
not  quite  as  a  lawyer — "  as  accurate  as  your  candor  and 
confidence  really  deserve,  Sir  Duncan.  The  box  containing 
that  document,  to  which  you  attach  so  much  importance 
(whether  duly  or  otherwise  is  not  for  me  to  say  until  coun- 
sel's opinion  has  been  taken  on  our  side),  considering  the 
powers  of  the  horse,  that  box  should  be  about  Stormy 
Gap  by  this  time.  A  quarter  to  four  by  me.  What  does 
your  watch  say,  sir  ?" 

'  '  The  deed  has  been  sent  for,  post-haste,  has  it  ?  And 
you  know  for  what  purpose  ?" 

* i  You  must  draw  a  distinction  between  the  deed  and  the 
box  containing  it,  Sir  Duncan.  Or,  to  put  it  more  accu- 
rately, betwixt  that  deed  and  its  casual  accompaniments. 
It  happens  to  be  among  very  old  charters,  which  happen  to 
be  wanted  for  certain  excellent  antiquarian  purposes.  Such 
things  are  not  in  my  line,  I  must  confess,  although  so 
deeply  interesting.  But  a  very  learned  man  seems  to  have 
expressed — ' ' 

"  Rubbish.      Excuse  me,  but  you  are  most  provoking. 
30 


466  MARY   ANERLEY. 

You  know,  as  well  as  I  do,  that  robbery  is  intended,  and 
you  allow  yourself  to  be  made  a  party  to  it. ' ' 

This  was  the  simple  truth  ;  and  the  lawyer,  being  (by 
some  strange  inversion  of  professional  excellence)  honest  at 
the  bottom,  was  deeply  pained  at  having  such  words  used, 
as  to,  for,  about,  or  in  anywise  concerning  him. 

"  I  think,  Sir  Duncan,  that  you  will  be  sorry,'7  he 
answered,  with  much  dignity,  "  for  employing  such  lan- 
guage where  it  cannot  be  resented.  Your  father  was  a 
violent  man,  and  we  all  expect  violence  of  your  family. ' J 

"  There  is  no  time  to  go  into  that  question  now.  If  I 
have  wronged  you,  I  will  beg  your  pardon.  A  very  few 
hours  will  prove  how  that  is.  How  and  by  whom  have  you 
sent  the  box  ?" 

Mr.  Jellicorse  answered,  rather  stiffly,  that  his  clients 
had  sent  a  trusty  servant  with  a  light  vehicle  to  fetch  the 
box,  and  that  now  he  must  be  half  way  toward  home. 

"  I  shall  overtake  him,"  said  Sir  Duncan,  with  a 
smile  ;  "  I  have  a  good  horse,  and  I  know  the  short-cuts. 
Hoofs  without  wheels  go  a  yard  to  a  foot  upon  such  rocky 
collar-work." 

Without  another  word,  except  "  Good-by,"  Sir  Duncan 
Yordas  left  the  house,  walked  rapidly  to  the  inn,  and  cut 
short  the  dinner  his  good  horse  was  standing  up  to.  In  a 
very  few  minutes  he  was  on  Tees  bridge,  with  his  face 
toward  the  home  of  his  ancestors. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  neither  his  thoughts  nor  those 
of  the  lawyer  were  very  cheerful.  Mr.  Jellicorse  was 
deeply  anxious  as  to  the  conflict  which  must  ensue,  and  as 
to  the  figure  his  fair  fame  might  cut,  if  this  strange 
transaction  should  be  exposed  and  calumniated  by  evil 
tongues.  In  these  elderly  days,  and  with  all  experience, 
he  had  laid  himself  open,  not  legally  perhaps,  but  morally, 
to  the  heavy  charge  of  connivance  at  a  felonious  act,  and 
even  some  contribution  toward  it.  He  told  himself  vainly 
that  he  could  not  help  it,  that  the  documents  were  in  his 
charge  only  until  he  was  ordered  to  give  them  up,  and  that  it 
was  no  concern  of  his  to  anticipate  what  might  become  of 
them.  His  position  had  truly  been  difficult,  but  still  he 
might  have  escaped  from  it  with  clearer  conscience.  His 


STAND   AND   DELIVEK.  467 

duty  was  to  cast  away  drawing-room  manners,  and  warn  Miss 
Yordas  that  the  document  she  hated  so  was  not  her  own  to 
deal  with,  but  belonged  (in  equity  at  least)  to  those  who 
were  entitled  under  it,  and  that  to  take  advantage  of  her 
wrongful  possession,  and  destroy  the  foe,  was  a  crime,  and, 
more  than  that,  a  shabby  one.  The  former  point  might 
not  have  stopped  her  ;  but  the  latter  would  have  done  so 
without  fail,  for  her  pride  was  equal  to  her  daring.  But 
poor  Mr.  Jellicorse  had  felt  the  power  of  a  will  more  reso- 
lute than  his  own,  and  of  grand  surroundings  and  exalted 
style  ;  and  his  desire  to  please  had  confused,  and  thereby 
overcome,  his  perception  of  the  right.  But  now  these  re- 
flections were  all  too  late,  and  the  weary  brain  found  com- 
fort only  in  the  shelter  of  its  night-cap. 

If  a  little  slip  had  brought  a  very  good  man  to  unhappiness, 
how  much  harder  was  it  for  Sir  Duncan  Yordas,  who  had 
committed  no  offence  at  all  !  No  Yordas  had  ever  cared  a 
tittle  for  tattle — to  use  their  own  expression — but  deeper 
mischief  than  tattle  must  ensue,  unless  great  luck  prevented 
it.  The  brother  knew  well  that  his  sister  inherited  much 
of  the  reckless  self-will  which  had  made  the  name  almost  a 
by-word,  and  which  had  been  master  of  his  own  life  until 
large  experience  of  the  world,  and  the  sense  of  responsible 
power  curbed  it.  He  had  little  affection  for  that  sister 
left — for  she  had  used  him  cruelly,  and  even  now  was  im- 
bittering  the  injury — but  he  still  had  some  tender  feeling 
for  the  other,  who  had  always  been  his  favorite.  And 
though  cut  off,  by  his  father's  act,  from  due  headship  of 
the  family,  he  was  deeply  grieved,  in  this  more  enlightened 
age,  to  expose  their  uncivilized  turbulence. 

Therefore  he  spurred  his  willing  horse  against  the  hill, 
and  up  the  many- winding  ruggedness  of  road,  hoping,  at 
every  turn,  to  descry  in  the  distance  the  vehicle  carrying 
that  very  plaguesome  box.  If  his  son  had  been  there,  he 
might  have  told  him,  on  the  ridge  of  Stormy  Gap  (which 
commanded  high  and  low,  rough  and  smooth,  dark  and 
light,  for  miles  ahead),  that  Jordas  was  taking  the  final 
turn,  by  the  farthest  gleam  of  the  water-mist,  whence  the 
stone  road  labored  up  to  Scargate.  But  Sir  Duncan's  eyes 
— though  as  keen  as  an  eagle's  while  young — had  now  seen 


4G8  MARY   AKERLEY. 

too  much  of  the  sun  to  make  out  that  gray  atom  gliding  in 
the  sunset  haze. 

Upon  the  whole,  it  was  a  lucky  thing  that  he  could  not 
overtake  the  car  ;  for  Jordas  would  never  have  yielded  his 
trust  while  any  life  was  in  him  ;  and  Sir  Duncan  having  no 
knowledge  of  him,  except  as  a  boy-of -all -work  about  the 
place,  might  have  been  tempted  to  use  the  sword,  without 
which  no  horseman  then  rode  there.  Or  failing  that,  a 
struggle  between  two  equally  resolute  men  must  have  fol- 
lowed, with  none  at  hand  to  part  them. 

When  the  horseman  came  to  the  foot  of  the  long  steep 
pull  leading  up  to  the  stronghold  of  his  race,  he  just  caught 
a  glimpse  of  the  car  turning  in  at  the  entrance  of  the  court- 
yard. "  They  have  half  an  hour's  start  of  me, "  he 
thought,  as  he  drew  up  behind  a  rock,  that  the  house  might 
not  descry  him  ;  if  I  ride  up  in  full  view,  I  hurry  the  mis- 
chief. Philippa  will  welcome  me  with  the  embers  of  my 
title.  She  must  not  suspect  that  the  matter  is  so  urgent. 
Nobody  shall  know  that  I  am  coming.  For  many  reasons 
I  had  better  try  the  private  road  below  the  Scarf e. ' ' 


CHAPTER  LIT. 

THE     SCARFE. 

JORDAS,  without  suspicion  of  pursuit,  had  allowed  no 
grass  to  grow  under  the  feet  of  Marmaduke  on  the  home- 
ward way.  His  orders  were  to  use  all  speed,  to  do  as  he 
had  done  at  the  lawyer's  private  door,  and  then,  without 
baiting  his  horse,  to  drive  back,  reserving  the  nose-bag  for 
some  very  humpy  halting-place.  There  is  no  such  man, 
at  the  present  time  of  day,  to  carry  out  strict  orders,  as  the 
dogman  was,  and  the  chance  of  there  being  such  a  one 
again  diminishes  by  very  rapid  process.  Marmaduke,  as  a 
horse,  was  of  equal  quality,  reasoning  not  about  his  orders, 
but  about  the  way  to  do  them. 

There  was  no  special  emergency  now,  so  far  as  my  lady 
Philippa  knew  ;  but  the  manner  of  her  mind  was  to  leave 


THE   SCARFE.  469 

no  space  between  a  resolution  and  its  execution.  This  is 
the  way  to  go  up  in  the  world,  or  else  to  go  down  abruptly  ; 
and  to  her  the  latter  would  have  been  far  better  than  to  halt 
between  two  opinions.  Her  plan  had  been  shaped  and  set 
last  night,  and,  like  all  great  ideas,  was  the  simplest  of  the 
simple.  And  Jordas,  who  had  inklings  of  his  own,  though 
never  admitted  to  confidence,  knew  how  to  carry  out  the 
outer  part. 

"  When  the  turbot  comes,"  she  said  to  Welldrum,  as 
soon  as  her  long  sight  showed  her  the  trusty  Jordas  begin- 
ning the  home  ascent,  "it  is  to  be  taken  first  out  of  the 
car,  and  to  my  sister's  sitting-room  ;  the  other  things  Jor- 
das will  see  to.  I  may  be  going  for  a  little  walk.  But 
you  will  at  once  carry  up  the  turbot.  Mrs.  Carnaby's 
appetite  is  delicate." 

The  butler  had  his  own  opinion  upon  that  interesting  sub- 
ject. But  in  her  presence  it  must  be  his  own.  Any 
attempt  at  enlargement  of  her  mind  by  exchange  of  senti- 
ment—-such  as  Mrs.  Carnaby  permitted  and  enjoyed — would 
have  sent  him  flying  down  the  hill,  pursued  by  square-toed 
men  prepared  to  add  elasticity  to  velocity.  Therefore 
Welldrum  made  a  leg  in  silence,  and  retreated,  while  his 
mistress  prepared  for  her  intended  exploit.  She  had  her 
beaver  hat  and  mantle  ready  by  the  shrubbery  door — as  a 
little  quiet  postern  of  her  own  was  called — and  in  the  heavy 
standing  desk,  or  i  i  secretary, ' '  of  her  private  room  she  had 
stored  a  flat  basket,  or  frail,  of  stout  flags,  with  a  heavy 
clock- weight  inside  it. 

"  Much  better  to  drown  the  wretched  thing  than  burn 
it,"  she  had  been  saying  to  herself,  "  especially  at  this 
time  of  year,  when  fires  are  weak  and  tell-tale.  And  parch- 
ment makes  such  a  nasty  smell  ;  Eliza  might  come  in  and 
suspect  it.  But  the  Scarf e  is  a  trusty  confidant." 

Mistress  Yordas,  while  sure  that  her  sister  (having  even 
more  than  herself  at  stake)  would  approve  and  even  applaud 
her  scheme,  was  equally  sure  that  it  must  be  kept  from  her, 
both  for  its  own  sake  and  for  hers.  And  the  sooner  it  was 
done,  the  less  the  chance  of  disturbing  poor  Eliza's  mind. 

The  Scarf  e  is  a  deep  pool,  supposed  to  have  no  bottom 
(except,  perhaps,  in  the  very  bowels  of  the  earth)  upon  one 


470  MARY  AKEBLET. 

of  the  wildest  head- waters  of  the  Tees.  A  strong  mountain 
torrent  from  a  desolate  ravine  springs  forth  with  great  fe- 
rocity, and  sooner  than  put  up  with  any  more  stabs  from  the 
rugged  earth,  casts  itself  on  air.  For  a  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  the  water  is  bright,  in  the  novelty  and  the 
power  of  itself,  striking  out  freaks  of  eccentric  flashes,  and 
even  little  sun-bows,  in  fine  weather.  But  the  triumph  is 
brief  ;  and  a  heavy  retribution,  created  by  its  violence, 
awaits  below.  From  the  tossing  turmoil  of  the  fall  two 
white  volumes  roll  away,  with  a  clash  of  waves  between 
them,  and  sweeping  round  the  craggy  basin,  meet  (like  a 
snowy  wreath)  below,  and  rush  back  in  coiling  eddies  flaked 
with  foam.  All  the  middle  is  dark  deep  water,  looking  on 
the  watch  for  something  to  suck  $°wn. 

What  better  duty,  or  more  pious,  could  a  hole  like  this 
perform,  than  that  of  swallowing  up  a  lawyer  ;  or,  if  no 
such  morsel  offered,  then  at  least  a  lawyer's  deeds  ?  Many 
a  sheep  had  been  there  ingulfed,  and  never  saluted  by  her 
lambs  again  ;  and  although  a  lawyer  by  no  means  is  a  sheep 
(except  in  his  clothing,  and  his  eyes  perhaps),  yet  his 
doings  appear  upon  the  skin  thereof,  and  enhance  its  value 
more  than  drugs  of  Tyre.  And  it  is  to  be  feared  that  some 
fleeced  clients  will  not  feel  the  horror  which  they  ought  to 
feel  at  the  mode  pursued  by  Mistress  Yordas  in  the  delivery 
of  her  act  and  deed. 

She  came  down  the  dell,  from  the  private  grounds  of 
Scargate,  with  a  resolute  face,  and  a  step  of  strength.  The 
clock- weight,  that  should  know  time  no  more,  was  well  im- 
bosomed  in  the  old  deed-poll,  and  all  stitched  firmly  in  the 
tough  brown  frail,  whose  handles  would  help  for  a  long 
strong  cast.  Towering  crags  and  a  ridge  of  jagged  scaurs 
shut  out  the  sunset,  while  a  thicket  of  dwarf  oak,  and  the 
never-absent  bramble,  aproned  the  yellow  dugs  of  shale  with 
brown.  In  the  middle  was  the  caldron  of  the  torrent, 
called  the  u  Scarf e,"  with  the  sheer  trap-rock,  which  is 
green  in  the  sunlight,  like  black  night  flung  around  it, 
while  a  snowy  wreath  of  mist  (like  foam  exhaling)  circled 
round  the  basined  steep  or  hovered  over  the  chasm. 

Miss  Yordas  had  very  stanch  nerves,  but  still,  for  reasons 
of  her  own,  she  disliked  this  place,  and  never  came  near  it 


THE   SCARFE.  471 

for  pleasure's  sake,  although  in  dry  summers,  when  the 
springs  were  low,  the  fury  of  the  scene  passed  into  gran- 
deur, and  even  beauty.  But  a  Yordas  (long  ago  gone  to  an- 
swer for  it)  had  flung  a  man,  who  plagued  him  with  the 
law,  into  this  hole.  And  what  was  more  disheartening,  al- 
though of  less  importance,  a  favorite  maid  of  this  lady, 
upon  the  exile  of  her  sweetheart,  hearing  that  his  feet  were 
upside  down  to  hers,  and  that  this  hole  went  right  through 
the  earth,  had  jumped  into  it,  in  a  lonely  moment,  instead 
of  taking  lessons  in  geography.  Philippa  Yordas  was  as 
brave  as  need  be  ;  but  now  her  heart  began  to  creep  as 
coldly  as  the  shadows  crept. 

For  now  she  was  out  of  sight  of  home,  and  out  of  hear- 
ing of  any  sound,  except  tfce  roaring  of  the  force.  The  Hall 
was  half  a  mile  away,  behind  a  shoulder  of  thick-ribbed 
hill  ;  and  it  took  no  sight  of  this  torrent,  until  it  became  a 
quiet  river  by  the  downward  road.  ' '  I  must  be  getting 
old,"  Miss  Yordas  thought,  "  or  else  this  path  is  much 
rougher  than  it  used  to  be.  Why,  it  seems  to  be  getting 
quite  dangerous  !  It  is  too  bad  of  Jordas  not  to  see  to  things 
better.  My  father  used  to  ride  this  way  sometimes.  But 
how  could  a  horse  get  along  here  now  ?" 

There  used  to  be  a  bridle-road  from  the  grounds  of  Scar- 
gate  to  a  ford  below  the  force,  and  northward  thence  tow- 
ard the  Tees  ;  or,  by  keeping  down  stream,  and  then  ford- 
ing it  again,  a  rider  might  hit  upon  the  Middleton  road, 
near  the  rock  that  warned  the  public  of  the  blood-hounds. 
This  bridle-road  kept  a  great  distance  from  the  cliffs  over- 
hanging the  perilous  Scarf e  ;  and  the  only  way  down  to  a  view 
of  the  fall  was  a  scrambling  track  over  rocks  and  trunks, 
unworthy  to  be  called  a  foot-path.  The  lady  with  the  bag 
had  no  choice  left  but  to  follow  this  track  or  else  abandon 
her  intention.  For  a  moment  she  was  sorry  that  she  had 
not  been  satisfied  with  some  less  troublesome  destruction 
of  her  foe,  even  at  the  risk  of  chance  suspicions.  But  hav- 
ing thus  begun  it,  she  would  not  turn  back,  and  be  angry 
with  her  idle  fears  when  she  came  to  think  of  them. 

With  hereditary  scorn  of  second  thoughts  she  cast  away 
doubt,  and  went  down  the  steep,  and  stood  on  the  brow  of 
sheer  rock,  to  recover  her  breath,  and  strength  for  a  long, 


472  MARY   ANERLEY. 

bold  cast.  The  crag  beneath  her  feet  was  trembling  with  the 
power  of  the  flood  below,  and  the  white  mist  from  the  deep 
moved  slowly,  shrouding  now,  and  now  revealing,  the  black 
gulf  and  its  slippery  walls.  For  the  last  few  months  Miss 
Yordas  had  taken  very  little  exercise,  and  seldom  tasted  the 
open  air  ;  therefore  the  tumult  and  tetror  of  the  place,  in 
the  fading  of  the  sky  and  darkening  of  the  earth,  got  hold 
of  her  more  than  they  should  have  done. 

With  the  frail  in  her  right  hand,  poised  upon  three 
fingers  (for  the  fourth  had  been  broken  in  her  childhood), 
she  planted  the  sole  of  her  left  foot  on  the  brink,  and 
swung  herself  for  the  needful  cast. 

A  strong  throw  was  needful  to  reach  the  black  water  that 
never  gave  up  anything  ;  if  the.  bag  were  dropped  in  the 
foaming  race,  it  might  be  carried  back  to  the  heel  of  the 
fall.  She  was  proud  of  her  bodily  strength,  which  was 
almost  equal  to  that  of  a  muscular  man,  and  her  long  arm 
swelled  with  the  vigor  of  the  throw.  But  just  when  the 
weight  should  have  been  delivered,  and  flown  with  a  hiss 
into  the  bottomless  abyss,  a  loose  flag  of  the  handle  twisted 
on  her  broken  finger.  Instead  of  being  freed,  the  bag  fell 
back,  struck  her  in  the  chest,  and  threw  her  back,  for  the 
clock-weight  was  a  heavy  one.  Her  balance  was  lost,  her 
feet  flew  up,  she  fell  upon  her  back,  and  the  smooth  beaver 
cloak  began  sliding  upon  the  slippery  rock.  Horrible  death 
was  pulling  at  her  ;  not  a  stick  nor  a  stone  was  in  reach  of  her 
hands,  and  the  pitiless  crags  echoed  one  long  shriek  above 
all  the  roar  of  the  waterfall.  She  strove  to  turn  over  and 
grasp  the  ground,  but  only  felt  herself  going  faster.  Her 
bright  boots  were  flashing  against  the  white  mist — a  picture 
in  her  mind  forever — her  body  was  following  inch  by  inch. 
With  elbow  and  shoulder,  and  even  hair  coils,  she  strove  to 
prolong  the  descent  into  death  ;  but  the  descent  increased 
its  speed,  and  the  sky  itself  was  sliding. 

Just  when  the  balance  was  inclining  downward,  and  the 
plunge  hanging  on  a  hair's-breadth,  powerful  hands  fell 
upon  her  shoulders  ;  a  grating  of  a  drag  against  the  grain 
was  the  last  thing  she  was  conscious  of  ;  and  Sir  Duncan 
Yordas  having  made  a  strong  pull,  at  the  imminent  risk  of 
his  life,  threw  back  his  weight  on  the  heels  of  his  boots, 


THE   SCARFE.  473 

and  they  helped  him.  His  long  Indian  spurs,  which  had 
no  rowel,  held  their  hold  like  a  falcon's  hind  talon  ;  and  he 
drew  back  the  lady  without  knowing  who  she  was,  having 
leaped  from  his  horse  at  her  despairing  scream.  From  his 
knowledge  of  the  place  he  concluded  that  it  was  some  per- 
son seeking  suicide,  but  recoiling  from  the  sight  of  death  ; 
and  without  another  thought  he  risked  his  life  to  save. 

Breathless  himself — for  the  transit  of  years  and  of  curry- 
powder  had  not  improved  his  lungs — he  labored  at  the  help- 
less form,  and  laid  it  at  last  in  a  place  of  safety. 

"  What  a  weight  the  lady  is  !"  was  his  first  idea  ;  "  it 
cannot  be  want  of  food  that  has  driven  her,  nor  of  money 
either  ;  her  cloak  would  fetch  a  thousand  rupees  in  Calcutta. 
And  a  bag  full  of  something — precious  also,  to  judge  by 
the  way  she  clings  to  it.  Poor  thing  !  Can  I  get  any  water 
for  her  ?  There  used  to  be  a  spring  here,  where  the  wood- 
cocks came.  Is  it  safe  to  leave  her  ?  Certainly  not,  with 
her  head  like  that  ;  she  might  even  have  apoplexy.  Allow 
me,  madam,  I  will  not  steal  it.  It  is  only  for  a  cushion.7' 

The  lady,  however,  though  still  in  a  stupor,  kept  her 
fingers  clinched  upon  the  handle  of  the  bag  ;  and  without 
using  violence  he  could  not  move  them.  Then  the  stitching 
of  the  frail  gave  way,  and  Sir  Duncan  espied  a  roll  of 
parchment.  Suddenly  the  lady  opened  large  dark  eyes, 
which  wandered  a  little,  and  then  (as  he  raised  her  head) 
met  his  and  turned  away. 

"  Philippa  !"  he  said,  and  she  faintly  answered  "  Yes," 
being  humbled  and  shaken  by  her  deadly  terror,  and  scarce- 
ly sure  of  safety  yet,  for  the  roar  and  the  chasm  were  in 
sight  and  hearing  still. 

"  Philippa,  are  you  better  ?  Never  mind  what  you  were 
thinking  of.  All  shall  be  right  about  that,  Philippa.  What 
is  land  in  comparison  with  life  ?  Look  up  at  me.  Don't 
be  afraid  to  look.  Surely,  you  know  your  only  brother  ! 
I  am  Duncan,  who  ran  away  and  has  lived  for  years  in  In- 
dia. I  used  to  be  very  kind  to  you  when  we  were  children, 
and  why  should  I  alter  from  it  now  ?  I  remember  when 
you  tumbled  in  the  path  down  there,  and  your  knee  was 
bleeding,  and  I  tied  it  up  with  a  dock  leaf  and  my  handker- 
chief. Can  you  remember  ?  It  was  primrose-time." 


474  MARY   ANEKLEY. 

"  To  be  sure  I  do,"  she  said,  looking  up  with  cheerful- 
ness ;  "  and  you  carried  me  all  the  way  home  almost,  and 
Eliza  was  dreadfully  jealous." 

"  That  she  always  was,  and  you  not  much  better.  But 
now  we  are  getting  on  in  life,  and  we  need  not  have  much  to 
do  with  one  another.  Still,  we  may  try  not  to  kill  one 
another  by  trumpery  squabbles  about  property.  Stay  were 
you  are  for  a  moment,  sister,  and  you  shall  see  the  end  of 
that." 

Sir  Duncan  took  the  bag,  with  the  deed  inside  it,  re- 
turned in  three  steps  to  the  perilous  shelf,  and  with  one 
strong  hurl  sent  forth  the  load,  which  cleft  the  white  mist, 
and  sank  forever  in  the  waves  of  "the  whirlpool. 

**  No  one  can  prosecute  me  for  that,"  he  said,  returning 
with  a  smile,  "  though  Mordacks  may  be  much  aggrieved. 
Now,  Philippa,  although  I  cannot  carry  you  well,  from  the 
additions  time  has  made  to  you,  I  can  help  you  home,  my 
dear  ;  and  then  on  upon  my  business." 

The  pride  and  self-esteem  of  Miss  Yordas  had  never  been 
so  crushed  before.  She  put  both  hands  upon  her  brother's 
shoulders,  and  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears. 


CHAPTER  LIII. 

BUTS      REBUTTED. 

SIR  DUNCAN  YORDAS  was  a  man  of  impulse,  as  almost 
every  man  must  be  who  sways  the  wills  of  other  men.  But 
he  had  not  acted  upon  mere  impulse  in  casting  away  his 
claim  to  Scargate.  He  knew  that  he  could  never  live  in  that 
bleak  spot,  after  all  his  years  in  India  ;  he  disliked  the 
place  through  his  father's  harshness  ;  he  did  not  care  that 
any  son  of  his,  who  had  lain  under  charge  of  a  foul  crime, 
and  fled  instead  of  meeting  it,  should  become  a  "  Yordas  of 
Scargate  Hall,"  although  that  description  by  no  means  in- 
volved any  very  strict  equity  of  conduct.  And  besides  these 
reasons,  he  had  another,  which  will  appear  very  shortly. 


BUTS   REBUTTED.  475 

But  whatever  the  secondary  motives  were,  it  was  a  large 
and  generous  act. 

When  Mrs.  Carnaby  saw  her  brother,  she  was  sure  that 
he  was  come  to  turn  her  out,  and  went  through  a  series  of 
states  of  mind  natural  to  an  adoring  mother  with  a  frail 
imagination  of  an  appetite — as  she  poetically  described  it. 
She  was  not  very  swift  of  apprehension,  although  so 
promptly  alive  to  anything  tender,  refined,  and  succulent. 
Having  too  strong  a  sense  of  duty  to  be  guilty  of  any  gen- 
erosity, she  could  not  believe,  either  then  or  thereafter, 
that  her  brother  had  cast  away  anything  at  all,  except  a  mere 
shred  of  a  lawsuit.  And  without  any  heed  of  chronology 
— because  (as  she  justly  inquired)  what  two  clocks  are 
alike  ? — she  was  certain  that  if  he  did  anything  at  all  to 
drive  off  those  horrible  lawyers  from  the  house,  there  was 
no  credit  due  to  any  one  but  Pet.  It  was  the  noble  way 
Pet  looked  at  him  ! 

Pet,  being  introduced  to  his  uncle  after  dinner,  when  he 
came  home  from  fishing,  certainly  did  look  nobly  at  him, 
if  a  long  stare  is  noble.  Then  he  went  up  to  him,  with  a 
large  and  liberal  sniff,  and  an  affable  inquiry,  as  a  little  dog 
goes  up  to  a  big  one.  Sir  Duncan  was  amused,  having 
heard  already  some  little  particulars  about  this  youth,  whose 
nature  he  was  able  to  enter  into  as  none  but  a  Yordas  could 
rightly  do.  However,  he  was  bound  to  make  the  best  of 
him,  and  did  so  ;  discovering  not  only  room  for  improve- 
ment, but  some  hope  of  that  room  being  occupied. 

"  The  boy  has  been  shockingly  spoiled,"  he  said  to  his 
sister  Philippa  that  evening  ;  **  also  he  is  dreadfully  igno- 
rant. None  of  us  are  very  great  at  scholarship,  and  never 
have  much  occasion  for  it.  But  things  are  becoming  very 
different  now.  Everybody  is  beginning  to  be  expected 
to  know  everything.  Very  likely,  as  soon  as  I  am  no  more 
wanted,  I  shall  be  voted  a  blockhead.  Luckily,  the  wars 
keep  people  from  being  too  choice,  when  their  pick  goes 
every  minute.  And  this  may  stop  the  fuss,  that  comes 
from  Scotland  mainly,  about  universal  distribution — or  some 
big  words — of  education.  *  Pet,'  as  you  call  him,  is  a 
very  clever  fellow,  with  much  more  shape  of  words  about 
him  than  ever  I  was  blessed  with.  In  spelling  I  saw  that 


47G  MAEY   AKERLEY. 

lie  was  my  master  ;  and  so  I  tried  him  with  geography,  and 
all  he  knew  of  India  was  that  it  takes  its  name  from  India- 
rubber.'7 

"Now  I  call  that  clever  of  him,"  said  Miss  Yordas  ; 
"  for  I  really  might  have  forgotten  even  that.  But  the  fatal 
defect  in  his  education  has  been  the  want  of  what  you  grow 
chiefly  in  "West  India,  perhaps — the  cane,  Duncan,  the 
sugar-cane.  I  have  read  all  about  it  ;  you  can  tell  me 
nothing,  You  suck  it,  you  smoke  it,  and  you  beat  your 
children  with  it." 

"  Well,"  said  Sir  Duncan,  who  was  not  quite  sure,  in 
the  face  of  such  authority,  "  I  disremember  ;  but  perhaps 
they  do  in  some  parts,  because  the  country  is  so  large. 
But  it  is  not  the  ignorance  of  Pet  I  care  for — such  a  fault 
is  natural  and  unavoidable  ;  and  who  is  there  to  pick  holes 
in  it  ?  The  boy  knows  a  great  deal  more  than  I  did  at  his 
age,  because  he  is  so  much  younger.  But,  Philippa,  un- 
less you  do  something  with  him,  he  will  never  be  a  gentle- 
man. ' ' 

"  Duncan,  you  are  hard.     You  have  seen  so  much." 

"  The  more  we  see  the  softer  we  become.  The  one 
thing  we  harden  against  is  lying — the  seed,  the  root,  and 
the  substance  of  all  vileness.  I  am  sorry  to  say  your  Pet  is 
a  liar." 

"  He  does  not  always  tell  the  truth,  I  know.  But  bear 
in  mind,  Duncan,  that  his  mother  did  not  insist — and,  in 
fact,  she  does  not  herself  always — " 

"  I  know  it  ;  I  am  grieved  that  it  should  come  from  our 
side.  I  never  cared  for  his  father  much,  because  he  went 
against  me  ;  but  this  I  will  say  for  him,  Lance  Carnaby 
would  sooner  cut  his  tongue  out  than  put  it  to  a  lie.  When 
I  am  at  home,  my  dealings  are  with  fellows  who  could  not 
speak  the  truth  if  they  tried  for  dear  life,  simply  through 
want  of  practice.  They  are  like  your  lower  class  of  horse- 
dealers,  but  with  infinitely  more  intelligence.  It  is  late  to 
teach  poor  Pet  the  first  of  all  lessons  ;  and  for  me  to  stop  to 
do  it  is  impossible.  But  will  you  try  to  save  further  dis- 
grace to  a  scapegrace  family,  but  not  a  mean  one  ?" 

"  I  feel  it  as  much  as  you  do — perhaps  more,"  Miss 
Yordas  answered,  forgetting  altogether  about  the  deed-box 


BUTS   REBUTTED.  477 

and  her  antiquary.  "  You  need  not  tell  me  how  very  sad 
it  is.  But  how  can  it  be  cured  ?  His  mother  is  his  mother. 
She  never  would  part  with  him  ;  and  her  health  is  deli- 
cate. " 

"  Stronger  than  either  yours  or  mine,  unless  she  takes  too 
much  nourishment.  Philippa,  her  will  is  mere  petulance. 
For  her  own  good  we  must  set  it  aside.  And  if  you  agree 
with  me,  it  can  be  done.  He  must  go  into  a  inarching 
regiment  at  once,  ordered  abroad,  with  five  shillings  in  his 
pocket,  earn  his  pay,  and  live  upon  it.  This  patched-up 
peace  will  never  last  six  months.  The  war  must  be  fought 
out  till  France  goes  down,  or  England.  I  can  get  him  a 
commission  ;  and  I  know  the  colonel,  a  man  of  my  own 
sort,  who  sees  things  done,  instead  of  talking.  It  would 
be  the  making  of  Lancelot.  He  has  plenty  of  courage,  but 
it  has  been  milched.  At  Oxford  or  Cambridge  he  would 
do  no  good,  but  simply  be  ruined  by  having  his  own  way. 
Under  my  friend,  Colonel  Thacker,  he  will  have  a  hard 
time  of  it,  and  tell  no  lies." 

Thus  it  was  settled.  There  was  a  fearful  outcry,  hysterics 
of  an  elegant  order,  and  weepings  enough  to  produce  sum- 
mer spate  in  the  Tees.  But  the  only  result  was  the  order- 
ing of  the  tailor,  the  hosier,  the  boot-maker,  and  the  scis- 
sors-grinder to  put  a  new  edge  upon  Squire  Philip 's  razors, 
that  Pet  might  practise  shaving.  "  Cold-blooded  cruelty, 
savage  homicide  ;  cannibalism  itself  is  kinder,"  said  poor 
Mrs.  Carnaby,  when  she  saw  the  razors  ;  but  Pet  insisted 
upon  having  them,  made  lather,  and  practised  with  the 
backs,  till  he  began  to  understand  them. 

"  He  promises  well;  I  have  great  hopes  of  him, "  Sir 
Duncan  said  to  himself.  "  He  has  pride  ;  and  no  proud 
boy  can  be  long  a  liar.  I  will  go  and  consult  my  dear  old 
friend  Bart." 

Mr.  Bart,  who  was  still  of  good  bodily  strength,  but  be- 
coming less  resolute  in  mind  than  of  yore,  was  delighted 
to  see  his  old  friend  again  ;  and  these  two  men,  having 
warm,  proud  hearts,  preserved  each  other  from  self-con- 
tempt by  looking  away  through  the  long  hand-clasp.  For 
each  of  them  was  to  the  other  almost  the  only  man  really 
respected  in  the  Avorld. 


478  MAKY   AKERLEY. 

Betwixt  them  such  a  thing  as  concealment  could  not  be. 
The  difference  in  their  present  position  was  a  thing  to  laugh 
at.  Sir  Duncan  looked  up  to  Bart  as  being  the  maker  of 
his  character,  and  Bart  admired  Sir  Duncan  as  a  newer  and 
wiser  edition  of  himself.  They  dispatched  the  past  in  a 
cheery  talk  ;  for  the  face  of  each  was  enough  to  show  that 
it  might  have  been  troublous — as  all  past  is — but  had  slid- 
den  into  quiet  satisfaction  now,  and  a  gentle  flow  of  experi- 
ence. Then  they  began  to  speak  of  present  matters,  and 
the  residue  of  time  before  them  ;  and  among  other  things 
Sir  Duncan  Yordas  spoke  of  his  nephew  Lancelot. 

"  Lancelot  Yordas  Carnaby,"  said  Bart,  with  the  smile 
of  a  gray-beard  at  young  love's  dream,  "  has  done  us  the 
honor  to  fall  in  love,  for  ever  and  ever,  with  oar  little  Insie. 
And  the  worst  of  it  is  that  she  likes  him." 

44  "What  an  excellent  idea  !"  his  old  friend  answered  ; 
"  I  was  sure  there  was  something  of  that  sort  going  on. 
Now  betwixt  love  and  war  we  shall  make  a  man  of  Pet.  ' ' 

As  shortly  as  possible  he  told  Mr.  Bart  what  his  plan 
about  his  nephew  was,  and  how  he  had  carried  it  against 
maternal,  and  now  must  carry  it  against  maiden,  love.  If 
Lancelot  had  any  good  stuff  in  him,  any  vertebrate  embryo 
of  honesty,  to  be  put  among  men,  and  upon  his  mettle 
(with  a  guardian  angel  in  the  distance  of  sweet  home),  would 
stablish  all  the  man  in  him,  and  stint  the  beast.  Mr.  Bart, 
though  he  hated  hard  fighting,  admitted  that  for  weak  peo- 
ple it  was  needful  ;  and  was  only  too  happy  so  to  cut  the 
knot  of  his  own  home  entanglements  with  the  ruthless  sword. 
For  a  man  of  liberal  education  and  much  experience  in 
spending  money,  who  can  put  a  new  bottom  to  his  own 
saucepan,  is  not  the  one  to  feel  any  despair  of  his  fellow- 
creatures  mending. 

Then  arose  the  question,  who  should  bell  the  cat,  or 
rather,  who  should  lead  the  cat  to  the  belling.  Pet  must  be 
taken,  under  strong  duress,  to  the  altar — as  his  poor  mother 
said,  and  shrieked — whereat  he  was  to  shed  his  darling 
blood.  His  heart  was  in  his  mouth  when  his  uniform 
came  ;  and  he  gave  his  sacred  honor  to  fly,  straight  as  an 
arrow,  to  the  port  where  his  regiment  was  getting  into 
boats  ;  but  Sir  Duncan  shook  his  grizzled  head.  "  Some- 


BUTS   REBUTTED.  479 

body  must  see  him  into  it, '  '  lie  said.  i  4  Not  a  lady,  no  ; 
no,  my  dear  Eliza.  I  cannot  go  myself  ;  but  it  must  be  a 
man  of  rigidity,  a  stern  agent.  Oh,  I  know  !  how  stupid 
of  me  !" 

"  You  mean  poor,  dear  Mr.  Jellicorse,"  suggested  Mrs. 
Carnaby,  with  a  short,  hot  sob.  4<  But,  Duncan,  he  has 
not  the  heart  for  it.  For  anything  honest  and  loyal  and 
good,  kind  people  may  trust  him  with  their  lives.  But  to 
tyranny,  rapine,  and  manslaughter  he  never  could  lend  his 
fine  honorable  face. ' ' 

' '  I  mean  a  man  of  a  very  different  cast — a  man  who 
knows  what  time  is  worth  ;  a  man  who  is  going  to  be  mar- 
ried on  a  Sunday,  that  he  may  not  lose  the  day.  He  has 
to  take  three  days'  holiday,  because  the  lady  is  an  heiress  ; 
otherwise  he  might  get  off  with  one.  But  he  hopes  to  be 
at  work  again  on  Wednesday,  and  we  will  "have  him  here 
post-haste  from  York  on  Thursday.  It  will  be  the  very 
job  to  suit  hin> — a  gentleman  of  Boman  ancestry,  and  of 
the  name  of  Mordacks. ' ' 

44  My  heart  was  broken  already  ;  and  now  I  can  feel  the 
poor  pieces  flying  into  my  brain.  Oh,  why  did  I  ever  have 
a  babe  for  monsters  of  the  name  of  Mordacks  to  devour  ?" 

Mordacks  was  only  too  glad  to  come.  On  the  very  day 
after  their  union,  Calpurnia  (likewise  of  Koman  descent) 
had  exhibited  symptoms  of  a  strong  will  of  her  own. 

Mordacks  had  temporized  during  their  courtship  ;  but 
now  she  was  his,  and  must  learn  the  great  fact.  He  be- 
haved very  well,  and  made  no  attempt  at  reasoning  (which 
would  have  been  a  fatal  course),  but  promptly  donned 
cloak,  boots,  and  spurs  while  his  horse  was  being  saddled, 
and  then  set  off,  with  his  eyes  fixed  firmly  upon  business. 
A  crow  could  scarcely  make  less  than  fifty  miles  from  York 
to  Scargate,  and  the  factor's  trusty  roadster  had  to  make  up 
his  mind  to  seventy.  So  great,  however,  is  sometimes  the 
centrifugal  force  of  Hymen,  that  upon  the  third  day  Mr. 
Mordacks  was  there,  vigorous,  vehement,  and  fit  for  any 
business. 

When  he  heard  what  it  was,  it  liked  him  well  ;  for  he 
bore  a  fine  grudge  against  Lancelot  for  setting  the  dogs  at 
him  three  years  ago,  when  he  came  (as  an  agent  for  adjoin- 


480        ,  MARY   ANERLEY. 

ing  property)  to  the  house  of  Yordas,  and  when  Mr.  Jelli- 
corse  scorned  to  meet  an  illegal  meddler  with  legal  matters. 
If  Mordacks  had  any  fault — and  he  must  have  had  some, 
in  spite  of  his  resolute  conviction  to  the  contrary — it  was 
that  he  did  not  altogether  scorn  revenge. 

Lives  there  man,  or  even  woman,  capable  of  describing 
now  the  miseries,  the  hardships,  the  afflictions  beyond 
groaning,  which,  like  electric  hail,  came  down  upon  the 
sacred  head  of  Pet  ?  He  was  in  the  grasp  of  three  strong 
men — his  uncle,  Mr.  Bart,  worst  of  all,  that  Mordacks- — es- 
cape was  impossible,  lamentation  met  with  laughter,  and 
passion  led  to  punishment.  Even  stern  Maunder  was 
sorry  for  him,  although  he  despised  him  for  feeling  it. 
The  only  beam  of  light,  the  only  spark  of  pleasure,  was 
his  royal  uniform  ;  and  to  know  that  Insie's  laugh  thereat 
was  hollow,  and  would  melt  away  to  weeping  when  he  was 
out  of  sight,  together  with  the  sulky  curiosity  of  Maunder, 
kept  him  up  a  little,  in  this  time  of  bitter  sacrifice. 

Enough  that  he  went  off,  at  last,  in  the  claws  of  that  Bo- 
man  hippogriff — as  Mrs.  Carnaby  savagely  called  poor  Mor- 
dacks— and  the  visitor's  flag  hung  half-mast  high,  and  Sar- 
acen and  the  other  dogs  made  a  howling  dirge,  with  such 
fine  hearts  (as  the  poor  mother  said  between  her  sobs}  that 
they  got  their  dinners  upon  china  plates. 

Sir  Duncan  had  left  before  this,  and  was  back  under  Dr. 
Upround's  hospitable  roof.  He  had  made  up  his  mind  to 
put  his  fortune,  or  rather  his  own  value,  to  the  test,  in  a 
place  of  deep  interest  to  him  now,  the  heart  of  the  fair 
Janetta.  He  knew  that,  according  to  popular  view,  he  was 
much  too  old  for  this  young  lady  ;  but  for  popular  view  he 
cared  not  one  doit,  if  her  own  had  the  courage  and  the  will 
to  go  against  it.  For  years  he  had  sternly  resisted  all 
temptation  of  second  marriage,  toward  which  shrewd 
mothers  and  nice  maidens  had  labored  in  vain  to  lead  him. 
But  the  bitter  disappointment  about  his  son,  and  that  long 
illness,  and  the  tender  nursing  (added  to  the  tenderness  of 
his  o\vn  sides,  from  lying  upon  them,  with  a  hard  dry 
cough)  had  opened  some  parts  of  his  constitution  to  matri- 
monial propensities.  Miss  Upround  was  of  a  playful  na- 
ture, and  teased  everybody  she  cared  about  ;  and,  although 


BUTS  ItEBUTTED, 

Sir  Duncan  was  a  great  hero  to  her,  she  treated  him  some- 
times as  if  he  were  her  doll.  Being  a  grave  man,  he  liked 
this,  within  the  bounds  of  good  taste  and  manners  ;  and 
the  young  lady  always  knew  where  to  stop.  From  being 
amused  with  her,  he  began  to  like  her  ;  and  from  liking 
her  he  went  on  to  miss  her  ;  and  from  missing  her  to  want- 
ing her  was  no  long  step. 

However,  Sir  Duncan  was  not  at  all  inclined  to  make  a 
fool  of  himself  herein.  He  liked  the  lady  very  much,  and 
saw  that  she  would  suit  him,  and  help  him  well  in  the  life 
to  which  he  was  thinking  of  returning.  For  within  the  last 
fortnight  a  very  high  post  at  Calcutta  had  been  offered  to 
him  by  the  powers  in  Leadenhall  Street,  upon  condition  of 
sailing  at  once,  and  foregoing  the  residue  of  his  leave.  If 
matters  had  been  to  his  liking  in  England,  he  certainly 
would  have  declined  it  ;  but  after  his  sad  disappointment, 
and  the  serious  blow  to  his  health,  he  resolved  to  accept  it 
and  set  forth  speedily.  The  time  was  an  interlude  of  the 
war,  and  ships  need  not  wait  for  convoy. 

This  had  induced  him  to  take  his  Yorkshire  affairs  (which 
Mordacks  had  been  forced  to  intermit  during  his  Derbyshire 
campaign)  into  his  own  hands,  and  speed  the  issue,  as 
above  related.  And  part  of  his  plan  was  to  quit  all  claim 
to  present  possession  of  Scargate  ;  that  if  the  young  lady 
should  accept  his  suit,  it  might  not  in  any  way  be  for  the 
sake  of  the  landed  interest.  As  it  happened,  he  had  gone 
much  farther  than  this,  and  cast  away  his  claim  entirely,  to 
save  his  sister  from  disgrace  and  the  family  property  from 
lawyers.  And  now  having  sought  Dr.  Upround's  leave 
(which  used  to  be  thought  the  proper  thing  to  do),  he  asked 
Janetta  whether  she  would  have  him,  and  she  said,  u  No, 
but  he  might  have  her. ' '  Upon  this  he  begged  permission 
to  set  the  many  drawbacks  before  her,  and  she  nodded  her 
head,  and  told  him  to  begin. 

1 4  I  am  of  a  Yorkshire  family.  But,  I  am  sorry  to  say 
that  their  temper  is  bad,  and  they  must  have  their  own  way 
too  much." 

"  But,  that  suits  me  ;  and  I  understand  it.  Because  I 
must  have  my  own  way  too. M 

31 


482  MARY   ANERLEY. 

i  i  But,  I  have  parted  with  my  inheritance,  and  have  no 
place  in  this  country  now. ' ' 

'  i  But,  I  am  very  glad  of  that.  Because  I  shall  be  able  to 
go  about. " 

"  But,  India  is  a  dreadfully  hot  country  ;  many  creatures 
tease  you,  and  you  get  tired  of  almost  everything." 

"  But,  that  will  make  it  all  the  more  refreshing  not  to  be 
tired  of  you,  perhaps. ' ' 

*'  But,  I  have  a  son  as  old  as  you,  or  older." 

"  But,  you  scarcely  suppose  that  I  can  help  that  !" 

"  But,  my  hair  is  growing  gray,  and  I  have  great  crow's- 
feet,  and  everybody  will  begin  to  say — " 

"  But,  I  don't  believe  a  word  of  it,  and  I  won't  have  it ; 
and  I  don't  care  a  pin's  head  what  all  the  world  says  put 
together,  so  long  as  you  don't  belong  to  it." 


CHAPTER  LIY. 

TRUE    LOVE. 

ABOUT  a  month  after  Sir  Duncan's  marriage,  when  he 
and  his  bride  were  in  London,  with  the  lady's  parents  come 
to  help,  in  the  misery  of  outfit,  a  little  boy  ran  through  a 
field  of  wheat,  early  in  the  afternoon,  and  hid  himself  in  a 
blackthorn  hedge  to  see  what  was  going  on  at  Anerley. 
Nothing  escaped  him,  for  his  eyes  were  sharp,  being  of  true 
Danish  breed.  He  saw  Captain  Anerley  trudging  up  the 
hill,  with  a  pipe  in  his  mouth,  to  the  bean-field,  where 
three  or  four  men  were  enjoying  the  air,  without  any  of  the 
greedy  gulps  produced  by  too  great  exertion  of  the  mus- 
cles ;  then  he  saw  the  mistress  of  the  house  throw  wide  a 
lattice,  and  shake  out  a  cloth  for  the  birds,  who  skipped 
down  from  the  thatch  by  the  dozen  instantly  ;  and  then  he 
saw  Mary,  with  a  basket  and  a  wooden  measure,  going 
round  the  corner  of  the  house,  and  clucking  for  the  fowls 
to  rally  from  their  scratch) ng-places.  These  came  zeal- 
ously, with  speed  of  leg  and  wing,  from  straw-rick,  thresh- 


TIIUE   LOVE.  483 

ing-floor,  double  hedgo,  or  mixcn  ;  and  following  their 
tails,  the  boy  slipped  through  the  rick-yard,  and  tossed  a 
note  to  Mary  with  a  truly  Flamburian  delivery. 

Although  it  was  only  a  small-sized  boy,  no  other  than 
the  heir  of  the  u  Cod-fish, "  a  brighter  rose  flew  into  Mary's 
cheeks  than  the  master-cock  of  all  the  yard  could  show  upon 
comb  or  wattle.  Contemptuous  of  twopence,  which  Mary 
felt  for,  the  boy  disappeared  like  a  rabbit  ;  and  the  fowls 
came  and  helped  themselves  to  the  tail-wheat,  while  their 
mistress  was  thinking  of  her  letter.  It  was  short  and 
sweet — at  least  in  promise — being  no  more  than  these  few 
words  :  "  Darling,  the  dike  where  first  we  met,  an  hour 
after  sunset. " 

Mary  never  doubted  that  her  duty  was  to  go  ;  and  at  the 
time  appointed  she  was  there,  with  firm  knowledge  of  her 
own  mind,  being  now  a  loving  and  reasonable  woman.  It 
was  just  a  year  since  she  had  saved  the  life  of  Robin  ;  and 
patience,  and  loneliness,  and  opposition  had  enlarged  and 
ennobled  her  true  and  simple  heart.  No  lord  in  the  land 
need  have  looked  for  a  purer  or  sweeter  example  of  maiden- 
hood than  this  daughter  of  a  Yorkshire  farmer  was,  in  her 
simple  dress,  and  with  the  dignity  of  love.  The  glen  was 
beginning  to  bestrew  itself  with  want  of  light,  instead  of 
shadows  ;  and  bushy  places  thickened  with  the  impercepti- 
ble growth  of  night.  Mary  went  on,  with  excitement  deep- 
ening, while  sunset  deepened  into  dusk  ;  and  the  color  of 
her  clear  face  flushed  and  fleeted  under  the  anxious  touch  of 
love,  as  the  tint  of  a  delicate  finger-nail,  with  any  pressure, 
varies.  But  not  very  long  was  she  left  in  doubt. 

"  How  long  you  have  been  !  And,  oh,  where  have  you 
been  ?  And  how  much  longer  will  you  be  ?"  Among 
many  other  words  and  doings  she  insisted  chiefly  on  these 
points. 

"  I  am  a  true-blue,  as  you  may  see,  and  a  warrant-officer, 
already,"  he  said,  with  his  old  way  of  smiling  at  himself. 
"  When  the  war  begins  again  (as  it  must — please  God  ! — 
before  many  weeks  arc  over),  I  shall  very  soon  get  my  com- 
mission, and  go  up.  I  am  quite  fit  already  to  command  a 
frigate. ' ' 

Mary  was  astonished  at  his  modesty  ;  she  thought  that 


484  MARY  ANERLEY. 

he  ought  to  "be  an  admiral  at  least,  and  so  she  told  him  ; 
however,  he  knew  better. 

"  You  must  bear  in  mind,"  he  replied,  with  a  kindly  de- 
sire to  spare  her  feelings,  "  that  until  a  change  for  the  bet- 
ter comes,  I  am  under  disadvantages.  Not  only  as  an  out- 
law — which  has  been  upon  the  whole  a  comfort — but  as  a 
suspected  criminal,  with  warrant  against  him,  and  reward 
upon  him.  Of  course  I  am  innocent ;  and  everybody  knows 
it,  or  at  least  I  hope  so,  except  the  one  who  should  have 
known  it  best. " 

"  I  am  the  person  who  should  know  it  best  of  all,"  his 
true  love  answered,  with  some  jealousy.  u  Explain  your- 
self, Robin,  if  you  please." 

"  No  Robin,  so  please  you,  but  Mr.  James  Blyth,  cap- 
tain of  the  foretop,  then  cockswain  of  the  barge,  and  now 
master's  mate  of  H.  M.  ship  of  the  line  Belleisle.  But  the 
one  who  should  have  trusted  me,  next  to  my  own  love,  is 
my  father,  Sir  Duncan  Yordas." 

"  How  you  are  talking  !  You  have  such  a  reckless  way. 
A  warrant-officer,  an  arrant  criminal  !  And  your  father, 
Sir  Duncan  Yordas,  that  very  strange  gentleman,  who  could 
never  get  warm  !  Oh,  Robin,  you  always  did  talk  non- 
sense, when — whenever  I  would  let  you.  But  you  should 
not  try  to  make  my  head  go  round." 

"  Every  word  of  it  is  true,"  the  young  sailor  answered, 
applying  a  prompt  remedy  for  vertigo.  "  It  had  been 
clearly  proved  to  his  knowledge,  long  before  the  great  fact 
was  vouchsafed  to  me,  that  I  am  the  only  son  of  Sir  Dun- 
can Yordas,  or,  at  any  rate,  his  only  son  for  the  present. 
The  discovery  gratified  him  so  little,  that  he  took  speedy 
measures  to  supplant  me. ' ' 

"  The  very  rich  gentleman  from  India,"  said  Mary, 
* '  that  married  Miss  "Upround  lately  ;  and  her  dress  was  all 
made  of  spun  diamonds,  they  say,  as  bright  as  the  dew  in 
the  morning.  Oh,  then  you  will  have  to  give  me  up  ; 
Robin,  you  must  give  up  me  !" 

Clasping  her  hands,  she  looked  up  at  him  with  courage, 
keeping  down  all  sign  of  tears.  She  felt  that  her  heart 
would  not  hold  out  Jong,  and  yet  she  was  -prouder  than  to 


TRUE   LOVE.  485 

turn  away.  "  Speak, "  she  said  ;  "it  is  better  to  speak 
plainly  ;  you  know  that  it  must  be  so. " 

"  Do  I  ?  why  ?"  Robin  Lyth  asked,  calmly,  being  well 
contented  to  prolong  her  doubts,  that  he  might  get  the 
benefit  thereafter. 

"  Because  you  belong  to  great  people,  and  I  am  just  a 
farmer's  daughter,  and  no  more,  and  quite  satisfied  to 
remain  so.  Such  things  never  answer. ' J 

"  A  little  while  ago  you  were  above  me,  weren't  you  ? 
When  I  was  nobody's  son,  and  only  a  castaway,  with  a 
nickname." 

"  That  has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  We  must  take  things 
exactly  as  we  find  them  at  the  time." 

"  And  you  took  me  as  you  found  me  at  the  time  ;  only 
that  you  made  me  out  so  much  better.  Mary,  I  am  not 
worthy  of  you.  What  has  birth  to  do  with  it  ?  And  so 
far  as  that  goes,  yours  is  better,  though  mine  may  seem  the 
brighter.  In  every  other  way  you  are  above  me.  You  are 
good,  and  I  am  wicked.  You  are  pure,  and  I  am  careless. 
You  are  sweet,  and  I  am  violent.  In  truth  alone  can  I  ever 
vie  with  you  ;  and  I  must  be  a  pitiful  scoundrel,  Mary,  if  I 
did  not  even  try  to  do  that,  after  all  that  you  have  done  for 
me." 

"  But,"  said  Mary,  with  her  lovely  eyes  gleaming  with 
the  glittering  shade  of  tears,  "  I  like  you  very  much  to  do 
it — but  not  exactly  as  a  duty,  Robin." 

u  You  look  at  me  like  that,  and  you  talk  of  duty  ! 
Duty,  duty  ;  this  is  my  duty.  I  should  like  to  be  dis- 
charging it  forever  and  a  day. ' ' 

4  *  I  did  not  come  here  for  ideas  of  this  kind, ' '  said  Mary, 
with  her  lips  as  red  as  pyracanthine  berries  ;  "  free-trade 
was  bad  enough,  but  the  Royal  Navy  worse,  it  seems.  Now, 
Robin  dear,  be  sensible,  and  tell  me  what  I  am  to  do." 

"  To  listen  to  me,  and  then  say  whether  I  deserve  what 
my  father  has  done  to  me.  lie  came  back  from  India — as 
you  must  understand — with  no  other  object  in  life,  that  I 
can  hear  of  (for  he  had  any  quantity  of  money),  than  to 
find  out  me,  his  only  child,  and  the  child  of  the  only  wife 
he  ever  could  put  up  with.  For  twenty  years  he  had  be- 
lieved me  to  be  drowned,  when  the  ship  he  sent  me  home 


43G  MAHY   AKERLEY. 

in  to  be  educated  was  supposed  to  have  foundered,  with  all 
hands.  But  something  made  him  fancy  that  I  might  have 
escaped  ;  and  as  he  could  not  leave  India  then,  he 
employed  a  gentleman  of  York,  named  Mordacks,  to  hunt 
out  all  about  it.  Mordacks,  who  seems  to  be  a  wonder- 
ful man,  and  most  kind-hearted  to  everybody,  as  poor 
Widow  Carroway  says  of  him  with  tears,  and  as  he  testifies 
of  himself — he  set  to  work,  and  found  out  in  no  time  all 
about  me  and  my  ear-rings,  and  my  crawling  from  the  cave 
that  will  bear  my  name,  they  say,  and  more  things  than  I 
have  time  to  tell.  He  appointed  a  meeting  with  Sir  Dun- 
can Yordas  here  at  Flamborough,  and  would  have  brought 
me  to  him,  and  everything  might  have  been  quite  happy.  But 
in  the  mean  while  that  horrible  murder  of  poor  Carroway 
came  to  pass,  and  I  was  obliged  to  go  into  hiding,  as  no  one 
knows  better  than  you,  my  dear.  My  father  (as  I  suppose  I 
must  call  him)  being  bound,  as  it  seems  that  they  all  are,  to 
fall  out  with  their  children,  took  a  hasty  turn  against  me  at 
once.  Mordacks,  whom  I  saw  last  week,  trusting  myself 
to  his  honor,  tells  me  that  Sir  Duncan  would  not  have 
cared  twopence  about  my  free-trade  work,  and  so  on,  or 
even  about  my  having  killed  the  officer  in  fair  conflict,  for 
he  is  used  to  that.  But  he  never  will  forgive  me  for  ab- 
sconding and  leaving  my  fellows,  as  he  puts  it,  to  bear  the 
brunt.  He  says  that  I  am  a  dastard  and  a  skulk,  and  un- 
worthy to  bear  the  name  of  Yordas. ' ' 

il  What  a  wicked,  unnatural  man  he  must  be  !"  cried 
Mary.  u  He  deserves  to  have  no  children. " 

"  No  ;  I  am  told  that  he  is  a  very  good  man,  but  stiff- 
necked  and  disdainful.  He  regards  me  with  scorn,  be- 
cause he  knows  no  better.  He  may  know  our  laws,  but  he 
knows  nothing  of  our  ways,  to  suppose  that  my  men  were 
in  any  danger.  If  I  had  been  caught  while  the  stir  was  on, 
a  gibbet  on  the  cliff  would  have  been  set  up,  even  before 
my  trial — such  is  the  reward  of  eminence — but  no  York- 
shire jury  would  turn  round  in  the  box,  with  those  poor  fel- 
lows before  them.  *  Not  guilty,  my  lord,'  was  on  their 
tongues,  before  he  had  finished  charging  them." 

4'  Oh,  I  am  so  glad  !  They  have  been  acquitted,  and  you 
were  there  to  see  it  I" 


TRUE   LOVE.  487 

11  To  be  sure.  I  was  in  the  court,  as  Harry  Ombler's 
father.  Mr.  Mordacks  got  it  up  ;  and  it  told  on  the  jury 
even  more  than  could  have  been  expected.  Even  the  judge 
\viped  his  eyes  as  he  looked  at  me,  for  they  say  he  has  a 
scapegrace  son  ;  and  Harry  was  the  only  one  of  all  the  six 
in  danger,  according  to  the  turn  of  the  evidence.  My  poor 
eyes  have  scarcely  come  round  yet  from  the  quantity  of  sob- 
bing that  I  had  to  do,  and  the  horrible  glare  of  my  goggles. 
And  then  I  had  a  crutch  that  I  stumped  with  as  I  sighed, 
so  that  all  the  court  could  hear  me  ;  and  whenever  I  did  it, 
all  the  women  sighed  too,  and  even  the  hardest  hearts  were 
moved.  Mr.  Mordacks  says  that  it  was  capital. ' ' 

"  Oh,  but,  Robin,  how  shocking,  though  you  make  me 
laugh  !  If  the  verdict  had  been  otherwise — oh,  what 
them*" 

"  Well,  then,  Harry  Ombler  had  a  paper  in  his  hand, 
done  in  printing  letters  by  myself,  because  he  is  a  very  tidy 
scholar,  and  signed  by  me  ;  the  which  he  was  to  read  be- 
fore receiving  sentence,  saying  that  Robin  Lyth  himself  was 
in  York  town,  and  would  surrender  to  that  court  upon  con- 
dition that  mercy  should  be  warranted  to  the  prisoners. ' ' 

"  And  you  would  have  given  yourself  up  ?  And  without 
consulting  me  about  it  !" 

'  '  Bad,  I  admit, ' '  Robin  answered,  with  a  smile  ;  ' '  but 
not  half  so  bad  as  to  give  up  you — which  you  calmly  pro- 
posed just  now,  dear  heart.  However,  there  is  no  need  for 
any  trouble  now,  except  that  I  am  forced  to  keep  out  of 
sight  until  other  evidence  is  procured.  Mordacks  has 
taken  to  me,  like  a  better  father,  mainly  from  his  para- 
mount love  of  justice,  and  of  daring  gallantry,  as  he  calls 
it." 

"  So  it  was,  and  ten  times  more  ;  heroic  self-devotion  is 
a  much  more  proper  term." 

"  Now,  don't,"  said  Robin.  u  If  you  make  me  blush, 
you  may  guess  what  I  shall  do  to  hide  it — carry  the  war 
into  the  sweet  land  of  the  enemy.  But  truly,  my  darling, 
there  was  very  little  danger.  And  I  am  up  for  a  much  bet- 
ter joke  this  time.  My  august  Roman  father,  who  has  cast 
me  off,  sails  as  a  very  great  Indian  gun,  in  a  ship  of  the 
line,  from  Spithead,  early  in  September.  The  Belleisle  is 


488  MAEY   ASIEKLEY. 

being  paid  off  now,  and  I  have  my  certificate,  as  well  as  lots 
of  money.  Next  to  his  lass,  every  sailor  loves  a  spree  ;  and 
mine,  instead  of  emptying,  shall  fill  the  locker.  With  this 
disgusting  peace  on,  and  no  chance  of  prize-money,  and 
plenty  in  their  pockets  for  a  good  spell  ashore,  blue- jackets 
will  be  scarce  when  Sir  Duncan  Yordas  sails.  If  I  can  get 
a  decent  berth  as  a  petty  officer,  off  I  go  for  Calcutta,  and 
watch  (like  the  sweet  little  cherub  that  sits  up  aloft)  for  the 
safety  of  my  dear  papa  and  mamma,  as  the  Frenchmen  are 
teaching  us  to  call  them.  What  do  you  think  of  such  filial 
devotion  ?" 

"  It  would  be  a  great  deal  more  than  he  deserves, "  Mary 
answered,  with  sweet  simplicity.  "  But  what  could  you 
do,  if  he  found  out  who  you  are  3" 

"  Not  the  smallest  fear  of  that,  my  dear.  I  have  never 
had  the  honor  of  an  introduction.  My  new  step-mother, 
who  might  have  been  my  sweetheart  if  I  had  not  seen  some- 
body a  hundred  times  as  good,  a  thousand  times  as  gentle, 
and  a  million  times  as  lovely — " 

"  Oh,  Robin,  do  leave  off  such  very  dreadful  stories  !  I 
saw  her  in  the  church,  and  she  looked  beautiful. ' ' 

"  Fine  feathers  make  fine  birds.  However,  she  is  well 
enough  in  her  way  ;  and  I  love  her  father.  But,  for  all 
that,  she  has  no  business  to  be  my  step-mother  ;  and  of 
course  it  was  only  the  money  that  did  it.  She  has  a  little 
temper  of  her  own,  I  can  assure  you  ;  and  I  wish  Sir  Dun- 
can joy  of  her  when  they  get  among  mosquitoes.  But,  as 
I  was  going  to  say,  the  only  risk  of  my  being  caught  is  from 
her  sharp  eyes.  Even  of  that  there  is  not  much  danger,  for 
we  common  sailors  need  not  go  within  hail  of  those  gran- 
dees, unless  it  comes  to  boat-work.  And  even  if  Miss  Ja- 
netta — I  beg  her  pardon,  Lady  Yordas — should  chance  to 
recognize  me,  I  am  sure  she  would  never  tell  her  husband. 
No,  no  ;  she  would  be  too  jealous  ;  and  for  fifty  other  rea- 
sons. She  is  very  cunning,  let  me  tell  you." 

*'  Well,"  cried  Mary,  with  a  smile  of  wisdom,  "  I  hope 
that  I  may  never  live  to  be  a  step-mother.  The  way  those 
poor  things  get  abused — " 

"  You  would  have  more  principle,  I  should  hope,  than  to 
marry  anybody  after  me.  However,  I  have  told  you  nearly 


TRUE   LOVE.  489 

all  my  news,  and  in  a  few  minutes  I  must  be  off.  Only  two 
things  more.  In  the  first  place,  Mordacks  has  taken  a  very 
great  fancy  to  me,  and  has  turned  against  my  father.  He 
and  Widow  Carroway  and  I  had  a  long  talk  after  the  trial, 
and  we  all  agreed  that  the  murder  was  committed  by  a  vil- 
lain called  '  John  Cadman/  a  sneak  and  a  skulk,  whom  I 
knew  well,  as  one  of  Carro way's  own  men.  Among  other 
things,  they  chanced  to  say  that  Cadman's  gun  was  missing, 
and  that  the  poor  widow  can  swear  to  it.  I  asked  if  any 
one  had  searched  for  it  ;  and  Mordacks  said  no,  it  would  be 
hopeless.  I  told  them  that  if  I  were  only  free  to  show  myself 
and  choose  my  time,  I  would  lay  my  life  upon  finding  it,  if 
thrown  away  (as  it  most  likely  was)  in  some  part  of  that 
unlucky  cave.  Mordacks  caught  at  this  idea,  and  asked  me 
a  number  of  questions,  and  took  down  my  answers  ;  for  no 
one  else  knows  the  cave  as  I  do.  I  would  run  all  risks  my- 
self, and  be  there  to  do  it,  if  time  suited.  But  only  cer- 
tain tides  will  serve,  even  with  the  best  of  weather  ;  and 
there  may  be  no  such  tide  for  months — I  mean  tide, 
weather,  and  clear  water  combined,  as  they  must  be  for  the 
job.  Therefore  I  am  not  to  wait,  but  go  about  my  other 
business,  and  leave  this  to  Mordacks,  who  loves  to  be  cap- 
tain of  everything.  Mr.  Mordacks  talked  of  a  diving-bell, 
and  some  great  American  inventions  ;  but  nothing  of  the 
kind  can  be  used  there,  nor  even  grappling-irons.  The 
thing  must  not  be  heard  of  even,  until  it  has  been  accom- 
plished. Whatever  is  done,  must  be  done  by  a  man  who 
can  swim  and  dive  as  I  can,  and  who  knows  the  place 
almost  as  well.  I  have  told  him  where  to  find  the  man, 
when  the  opportunity  comes  for  it  ;  and  I  have  shown  my 
better  father,  Robin  Cockscroft,  the  likely  spot.  So  now  I 
have  nothing  more  to  do  with  that. ' ' 

"  How  wonderfully  you  can  throw  off  cares  !"  his  sweet- 
heart answered,  softly.  "  But  I  shall  be  miserable  till  I 
know  what  happens.  Will  they  let  me  be  there  ?  Because 
I  understand  so  much  about  tides,  and  I  can  hold  my 
tongue. " 

"  That  you  have  shown  right  well,  my  Mary  ;  but  your 
own  sense  will  tell  you  that  you  could  not  be  there.  Now 
one  thing  more  :  here  is  a  ring,  not  worthy — although  it  is 


490  MARY   AKEIILEY. 

the  real  stuff — to  go  upon  your  precious  hand,  yet  allow  ino 
to  put  it  on  ;  no,  not  there  ;  upon  your  wedding-finger. 
Now  do  you  know  what  that  is  for  ?" 

"  For  me,  I  suppose,"  she  answered,  blushing  with 
pleasure  and  admiration  ;  *'  but  it  is  too  good,  too  beauti- 
ful, too  costly." 

"  Not  half  good  enough.  Though,  to  tell  you  the  truth, 
it  cannot  be  matched  easily  ;  any  more  than  you  can.  But 
I  know  where  to  get  those  things.  Now  promise  me  to 
wear  it,  when  you  think  of  me  ;  and  the  one  habit  will  con- 
firm the  other.  But  the  more  important  part  is  this,  and 
the  last  thing  for  me  to  say  to  you.  Your  father  still  hates 
my  name,  I  fear.  Tell  him  every  word  I  have  told  you, 
and  perhaps  it  will  bring  him  half  way  round.  Sooner  or 
later  he  must  come  round  ;  and  the  only  way  to  do  it  is  to 
work  him  slowly.  When  he  sees  in  how  many  ways  I  have 
been  wronged,  and  how  beautifully  I  have  borne  it  all,  he 
will  begin  to  say  to  himself,  '  Now  this  young  man  may  be 
improving/  But  he  never  will  say,  *  He  hath  no  need  of 
it.'  " 

"  I  should  rather  think  not,  you  conceited  Robin,  or 
whatever  else  I  am  to  call  you  now.  But  I  bargain  for  one 
thing — whatever  may  happen,  I  shall  never  call  you  any- 
thing else  but  Robin.  It  suits  you,  and  you  look  well  with 
it.  Yordas  indeed,  or  whatever  it  may  be — " 

"  No  bargain  is  valid  without  a  seal,"  etc.,  etc.  In  the 
old  but  ever-vivid  way  they  went  on,  until  they  were  forced 
to  part,  at  the  very  lips  of  the  house  itself,  after  longing 
lingerings.  The  air  of  the  fields  was  sweet  with  summer 
fragrance  and  the  breath  of  night  ;  the  world  was  ripe  with 
soft  repose,  whose  dreams  were  hope  and  happiness  ;  and 
the  heaven  spread  some  gentle  stars,  to  show  mankind  the 
way  to  it.  Then  a  noble  perfume  strewed  the  ambient  air 
with  stronger  presence,  as  the  farmer,  in  his  shirt-sleeves, 
came,  with  a  clay  pipe,  and  grumbled,  "  Wherever  is  our 
Mary  all  this  time  ?" 


KICIIOLAS   THE   FISH.  491 

CHAPTER  LV. 

NICHOLAS     THE     FISIT. 

FIVE  hundred  years  ago  there  was  a  great  Italian  swim- 
mer, even  greater  than  our  Captain  Webb  ;  inasmuch  as  lie 
had  what  the  wags  of  the  age  unjustly  ascribe  to  our  hero, 
that  is  to  say,  web  toes  and  fingers.  This  capable  man 
could,  if  history  be  true,  not  only  swim  for  a  week  without 
ceasing  (reassuring  solid  nature  now  and  then  by  a  gulp  of 
live  fish),  but  also  could  expand  his  chest  so  considerably 
that  it  held  enough  air  for  a  day's  consumption.  Fortified 
thus,  he  explored  Charybdis  and  all  the  Liparic  whirlpools, 
and  could  have  found  Cadman's  gun  anywhere,  if  it  had 
only  been  there.  But  at  last  the  sea  had  its  revenge  upon 
him,  through  the  cruel  insistence  of  his  king. 

No  man  so  amphibious  has  since  arisen  through  the  un- 
fathomcd  tide  of  time.  But  a  swimmer  and  diver  of  great 
repute  was  now  living  not  far  from  Teesmouth.  That  is  to 
say,  he  lived  there  whenever  the  state  of  the  weather  or  the 
time  of  year  stranded  him  in  dry  misery.  Those  who  had 
never  come  across  a  man  of  this  description  might  suppose 
that  he  was  happy  and  content  at  home  with  his  wife  and 
growing  family,  assuaging  the  brine  in  the  delightful  man- 
ner commended  by  Hero  to  Leander.  But,  alas  !  it  was 
not  so  at  all.  The  temper  of  the  man  was  very  slow  to 
move,  as  generally  happens  with  deep-chested  men,  and  a 
little  girl  might  lead  him  with  her  finger  on  the  shore  ;  and 
he  liked  to  try  to  smell  land  flowers,  which  in  his  opinion 
were  but  weeds.  But  if  a  man  cannot  control  his  heart,  in 
the  very  middle  of  his  system,  how  can  he  hope  to  com- 
mand his  skin,  that  unscientific  frontier  of  his  frame  ? 

u  Nicholas  the  fish,"  as  his  neighbors  (whenever,  by 
coming  ashore,  he  had  such  treasures)  contemptuously  called 
him,  was  endowed  from  his  birth  with  a  peculiar  skin,  and 
by  exercise  had  improved  it.  Its  virtue  was  excessive  thick- 
ness— such  as  a  writer  should  pray  for — protected  also  by 
powerful  hairiness — largely  admired  by  those  with  whom  it 
is  restricted  to  the  head. 


402  MARY   AHERLEY. 

Unhappily  for  Nicholas,  the  peremptory  poises  of  nature 
struck  a  line  with  him,  and  this  was  his  line  of  flotation. 
From  perpetual  usage  this  was  drawn,  obliquely  indeed,  but 
as  definitely  as  it  is  upon  a  ship  of  uniform  displacement — 
a  yacht,  for  instance,  or  a  man-of-war.  Below  that  line 
scarcely  anything  could  hurt  him  ;  but  above  it  he  was 
most  sensitive,  unless  he  were  continually  wetted  ;  and  the 
flies,  and  the  gnats,  and  many  other  plagues  of  England, 
with  one  accord  pitched  upon  him,  and  pitched  into  him, 
during  his  short  dry  intervals,  with  a  bracing  sense  of  saline 
draught.  Also  the  sun,  and  the  wind,  and  even  the  moon, 
took  advantage  of  him  when  unwetted. 

This  made  his  dry  periods  a  purgatory  to  him  ;  and  no 
sooner  did  he  hear  from  Mr.  Mordacks  of  a  promising  job 
under  water  than  he  drew  breath  enough  for  a  ten-fathom 
dive,  and  bursting  from  long  despair,  made  a  great  slap  at 
the  flies  beneath  his  collar-bone.  The  sound  was  like  a 
drum  which  two  men  strike  ;  and  his  wife,  who  was 
devoted  to  him,  hastened  home  from  the  adjoining  parish 
with  a  sad  presentiment  of  parting.  And  this  was  speedily 
verified  ;  for  the  champion  swimmer  and  diver  set  forth 
that  very  day  for  Bempton  Warren,  where  he  was  to  have 
a  private  meeting  with  the  general  factor. 

Now  it  was  a  great  mistake  to  think — as  many  people  at 
this  time  did,  both  in  Yorkshire  and  Derbyshire — that  the 
gulf  of  connubial  cares  had  swallowed  the  great  Roman 
hero  Mordacks.  Unarmed,  and  even  without  his  gallant 
roadster  to  support  him,  he  had  leaped  into  that  Curtian 
lake,  and  had  fought  a  good  fight  at  the  bottom  of  it.  The 
details  are  highly  interesting,  and  the  chronicle  might  be 
useful  ;  but,  alas  !  there  is  no  space  left  for  it.  It  is 
enough,  and  a  great  thing  too,  to  say  that  he  emerged  tri- 
umphant, reduced  his  wife  into  very  good  condition,  and 
obtained  the  due  mastery  of  her  estates,  and  lordship  of  the 
household. 

Refreshed  and  recruited  by  the  home  campaign,  and  hav- 
ing now  a  double  base  for  future  operations — York  city, 
with  the  fosse  of  Ouse  in  the  east,  and  Pretorian  Hill, 
Derbyshire,  westward — Mordacks  returned,  with  a  smack 
of  lip  more  dry  than  amontilladissimo,  to  the  strict  embrace 


NICHOLAS  THE   PISH.  493 

of  business.  So  far  as  the  needs  of  the  body  were  con- 
cerned, he  might  have  done  handsomely  without  any  busi- 
ness ;  but,  having  no  flesh  fit  to  weigh  against  his  mind,  he 
gave  preference  to  the  latter.  Now  the  essence  of  his 
nature  was  to  take  strong  views  ;  not  hastily — if  he  could 
help  it — nor  through  narrow  aspect  of  prejudice,  but  with 
power  of  insight  (right  or  wrong),  and  stern  fixity  there- 
after. He  had  kept  his  opinion  about  Sir  Duncan  Yordas 
much  longer  than  usual  pending,  being  struck  with  the  fame 
of  the  man,  and  his  manner,  and  generous  impulsive  na- 
ture. All  these  he  still  admired,  but  felt  that  the  mind 
was  far  too  hasty,  and,  to  put  it  in  his  own  strong  way,  Sir 
Duncan  (whatever  he  might  be  in  India)  had  been  but  a 
fool  in  England.  Why  had  he  cast  away  his  claim  on 
Scargate,  and  foiled  the  factor's  own  pet  scheme  for  a  great 
triumph  over  the  lawyers  ?  And  why  condemn  his  only 
son,  when  found  with  such  skill  and  at  heavy  expense, 
without  even  hearing  both  sides  of  the  tale  ?  Last,  but  not 
least,  what  induced  him  to  marry,  when  amply  old  enough 
to  know  better,  a  girl  who  might  be  well  enough  in  her  way, 
but  had  no  family  estate  to  bring,  was  shrewdly  suspected 
of  a  cutting  tongue,  and  had  more  than  once  been  any- 
thing but  polite  to  Geoffrey  Mordacks  ? 

Although  this  gentleman  was  not  a  lawyer,  and  indeed 
bore  a  tyrannous  hate  against  that  gentle  and  most  precious 
class,  he  shared  the  solicitor's  just  abhorrence  of  the  word 
'  '  farewell, ' '  when  addressed  to  him  by  any  one  of  good 
substance.  He  resolved  that  his  attentions  should  not 
cease,  though  undervalued  for  the  moment,  but  should  be 
continued  to  the  son  and  heir — whose  remainder  in  tail 
subsisted  still,  though  it  might  be  hard  to  substantiate — and 
when  his  cousin  Lancelot  should  come  into  possession,  he 
might  find  a  certain  factor  to  grapple  him.  Mr.  Mordacks 
hated  Lancelot,  and  had  carried  out  his  banishment  with 
intense  enjoyment,  holding  him  as  in  a  wrench-hammer  all 
the  way,  silencing  his  squeaks  with  another  turn  of  the 
screw',  and  as  eager  to  crack  him  as  if  he  were  a  nut,  the 
first  that  turns  auburn  in  September. 

This  being  the  condition  of  so  powerful  a  mind,  facts  very 
speedily  shaped  themselves  thereto,  as  they  do  when  the 


494  MARY  AHERLEY. 

power  of  an  eminent  orator  lays  hold  of  them  and  crushes 
them,  and  they  cannot  even  squeak.  Or  even  as  a  still 
more  eminent  'bus-driver,  when  the  street  is  blocked,  and 
there  seems  to  be  no  room  for  his  own  thumb,  yet  (with  a 
gentle  whistle  and  a  wink)  solves  the  jostling  stir  and  balk, 
makes  obstructive  traffic  slide,  like  an  eddy  obsequious,  be- 
side him  and  behind,  and  comes  forth  as  the  first  of  an 
orderly  procession  toward  the  public-house  of  his  true  love. 

Now  if  anything  beyond  his  own  conviction  were  wanted 
to  set  this  great  agent  upon  action,  soon  it  was  found  in 
York  Summer  Assizes,  and  the  sudden  inrush  of  evidence, 
which — no  matter  how  a  case  has  been  prepared — gets  pent 
up  always  for  the  Bar  and  Bench.  Then  Robin  Lyth  came, 
with  a  gallant  dash,  and  offered  himself  as  a  sacrifice,  if 
needful,  which  proved  both  his  courage  and  his  common- 
sense  in  waiting  till  due  occasion  demanded  him.  Mor- 
dackswas  charmed  with  this  young  man,  not  only  for  prov- 
ing his  own  judgment  right,  but  also  for  possessing  a 
quickness  of  decision  akin  to  his  own,  and  backing  up  his 
own  ideas. 

With  vigor,  thus  renewed  by  many  interests  and  motives, 
the  general  and  generous  factor  kept  his  appointment  in 
Bempton  Warren.  Since  the  distressing,  but  upon  the 
whole  desirable,  decease  of  that  poor  Rickon  Goold,  the 
lonely  hut  in  which  he  breathed  his  last  had  not  been  by 
any  means  a  popular  resort.  There  were  said  to  be  things 
heard,  seen,  and  felt,  even  in  the  brightest  summer  day, 
which  commended  the  spot  to  the  creatures  that  fear  man- 
kind, but  not  their  spectres.  The  very  last  of  all  to 
approach  it  now  would  have  been  the  two  rollicking  tars 
who  had  trodden  their  wooden-legged  watch  round  it. 
Nicholas  the  fish  was  superstitious  also,  as  it  behooved  him 
well  to  be  ;  but  having  heard  nothing  of  the  story  of  the 
place,  and  perceiving  no  gnats  in  the  neighborhood,  he 
thankfully  took  it  for  his  short  dry  spells. 

Mr.  Mordacks  met  him,  and  the  two  men  were  deeply  im- 
pressed with  one  another.  The  diver  admired  the  sharp, 
terse  style  and  definite  expression  of  the  factor,  while  the 
factor  enjoyed  the  large  ponderous  roll  and  suggestive  reser- 
vations of  the  diver.  For  this  was  a  man  who  had  met  great 


NICHOLAS  THE   FISH.  495 

beings,  and  faced  mighty  wonders  in  deep  places  ;  and  he 
thought  of  them  more  than  he  liked  to  say,  because  he  had 
to  get  his  living. 

Nothing  could  be  settled  to  a  nicety  between  them,  not 
even  as  to  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence.  For  the  nature 
of  the  job  depended  wholly  upon  the  behavior  of  the 
weather  ;  and  the  weather  must  be  not  only  at  its  best,  but 
also  sitting  meekly  in  the  right  direction  at  the  right  mo- 
ment of  big  spring-tide.  The  diver  was  afraid  that  he 
might  ask  too  little,  and  the  factor  disliked  the  risk  of 
offering  too  much,  and  possibly  spoiling  thereby  a  noble 
nature.  But  each  of  them  realized  (to  some  extent)  the 
honesty  of  the  other,  and  neither  of  them  meant  to  be 
unreasonable. 

"  Give  and  take,  is  what  I  say,"  said  the  short  man  with 
the  monstrous  chest,  looking  up  at  the  tall  man  with  the 
Roman  nose  ;  "  live  and  let  live.  Ah  !  that's  it." 

Mr.  Mordacks  would  have  said,  i '  Eight  you  are, ' '  if  that 
elegant  expression  had  been  in  vogue  ;  but  as  that  brilliance 
had  not  yet  risen,  he  was  content  to  say,  "  Just  so." 
Then  he  added,  "  Here  you  have  everything  you  want. 
Madam  Precious  will  send  you  twice  a  day,  to  the  stone  at 
the  bottom  of  the  lane,  a  gallon  of  beer,  and  victuals  in 
proportion.  Your  duty  is  to  watch  the  tides  and  weather, 
keep  your  boat  going,  and  let  me  know  ;  and  here  I  am  in 
half  an  hour. ' ' 

Calpurnia  Mordacks  was  in  her  duty  now,  and  took  her 
autumn  holiday  at  Flamborough.  And  though  Widow 
Precious  felt  her  heart  go  pitapat  at  first  sight  of  another 
Mrs.  Mordacks,  she  made  up  her  mind,  with  a  gulp,  not  to 
let  this  cash  go  to  the  Thornwick.  As  a  woman  she 
sighed  ;  but  as  a  landlady  she  smiled,  and  had  visions  of 
hoisting  a  flag  on  her  roof. 

When  Mordacks,  like  a  victorious  general,  conqueror  of 
this  Danish  town,  went  forth  for  his  evening  stroll  to  see 
his  subjects  and  be  saluted,  a  handsome  young  sailor  came 
up  from  the  cliffs,  and  begged  to  have  a  few  quiet  words 
with  him.  "  Say  on,  my  lad  ;  all  my  words  are  quiet," 
replied  the  general  factor.  Then  this  young  man  up  and 
told  his  tale,  which  was  all  in  the  well-trodden  track  of 


49G  MARY   ANEKLEY. 

mankind.  He  had  run  away  to  sea,  full  of  glorious  dreams 
— valor,  adventure,  heroism,  rivers  of  Paradise,  and  lands 
of  heaven.  Instead  of  that,  he  had  been  hit  upon  the 
head,  and  in  places  of  deeper  tenderness,  frequently  roasted, 
and  frozen  yet  more  often,  basted  with  brine  when  he  had 
no  skin  left,  scorched  with  thirst,  and  devoured  by  creatures 
whose  appetites  grew  dainty  when  his  own  was  ravening. 

"  Excellent  youth, "  Mr.  Mordacks  said,  "  your  tale 
might  move  a  heart  of  flint.  All  who  know  me  have  but 
one  opinion.  I  am  benevolence  itself.  But  my  balance  is 
low  at  my  banker's.'7 

"  I  want  no  money,  sir,"  the  sailor  answered,  simply 
offering  benevolence  itself  a  pipeful  of  tobacco  from  an 
ancient  bit  of  bladder  ;  4 '  I  have  not  got  a  farthing,  but  I 
am  with  good  people  who  never  would  take  it  if  I  had  it, 
and  that  makes  everything  square  between  us.  I  might 
have  a  hatful  of  money  if  I  chose,  but  I  find  myself  better 
without  it,  and  my  constitution  braces  up.  If  I  only  ctose 
to  walk  a  league  sou' west,  there  would  be  bonfires  burning. 
But  I  vowed  I  would  go  home  a. captain,  and  I  will." 

"  Ha  !"  cried  Mr.  Mordacks,  with  his  usual  quickness, 
and  now  knowing  all  about  everybody  ;  u  you  are  Mr.  John 
Anerley,  the  son  of  the  famous  Captain  Anerley." 

"  Jack  Anerley,  sir,  till  better  times  ;  and  better  they 
never  will  be,  till  I  make  them.  But  not  a  word  to  any 
one  about  me,  if  you  please.  It  would  break  my  mother's 
heart  (for  she  doth  look  down  upon  people,  without  ask- 
ing) to  hear  that  Robin  Cockscroft  was  supporting  of  me. 
But  bless  you,  I  shall  pay  him  soon,  a  penny  for  a  guinea." 

Truth,  which  struggles  through  the  throng  of  men  to  get 
out  and  have  a  little  breath  sometimes,  now  and  then  suc- 
ceeds, by  accident,  or  the  stupid  misplacement  of  a  word.  A 
penny  for  a  guinea  was  as  much  as  Robin  Cockscroft  was 
likely  ever  to  see  for  his  outlay  upon  this  very  fine  young 
fellow.  Jack  Anerley  accepted  the  situation  with  the  large 
philosophy  of  a  sailor  ;  and  all  he  wanted  from  Mr.  Mor- 
dacks was  leave  to  be  present  at  the  diving  job.  This  he 
obtained,  as  he  promised  to  be  useful,  and  a  fourth  oar  was 
likely  to  be  needed. 

It  was  about  an  hour  before  noon  of  a  beautifully  soft  Sep- 


NICHOLAS  THE   FISH.  407 

tember  day,  when  little  Sam  Precious,  the  same  boy  that  car- 
ried Robin  Lyth's  note  to  Mary,  came  up  to  Mr.  Mordacks 
with  a  bit  of  plaited  rushes,  the  scy  tale  of  Nicholas  the  fish, 
who  was  happy  enough  not  to  know  his  alphabet.  The  fac- 
tor immediately  put  on  his  hat,  girded  himself  with  his 
riding-sword  and  pistol -belt,  and  told  his  good  wife  that 
business  might  take  him  away  for  some  hours.  Then  he 
hastened  to  Robin  Cockscroft's  house,  after  sending  the 
hostler,  on  his  own  horse,  with  a  letter  to  Bridlington 
coast-guard  station,  as  he  had  arranged  with  poor  Carro- 
way's  successor. 

The  Flamborough  fishermen  were  out  at  sea  ;  and  with- 
out any  fuss,  Robin's  boat  was  launched,  and  manned  by 
that  veteran  himself,  together  with  old  Joe  and  Bob,  who 
had  long  been  chewing  the  quid  of  expectation,  and  at  the 
bow-oar  Jack  Anerley.  Their  orders  were  to  slip  quietly 
round,  and  wait  in  the  Dove-cot  till  the  diver  came.  Mor- 
dacks saw  them  on  their  way  ;  and  then  he  strode  up  the 
deserted  path,  and  struck  away  toward  a  northern  cove, 
where  the  diver's  little  boat  was  housed.  There  he  found 
Nicholas  the  fish,  spread  out  in  all  his  glory,  like  a  polypod 
awash,  or  a  basking  turtle,  or  a  well-fed  calf  of  Proteus. 
Laid  on  his  back,  where  the  wavelets  broke,  and  beaded  a 
silver  fringe  upon  the  golden  ruff  of  sand,  he  gave  his  body 
to  soft  lullaby,  and  his  mind  to  perfect  holiday.  His 
breadth,  and  the  spring  of  fresh  air  inside  it,  kept  him 
gently  up  and  down,  and  his  calm  enjoyment  was  enriched 
by  the  baffled  wrath  of  his  enemies.  For  flies,  of  innumer- 
able sorts  and  sizes,  held  a  hopeless  buzz  above  him, 
being  put  upon  their  metal  to  get  at  him,  and  perishing 
sweetly  in  the  vain  attempt. 

With  a  grunt  of  reluctance,  he  awoke  to  business,  swam 
for  his  boat,  and  embarking  Mr.  Mordacks,  pulled  him 
across  the  placid  bay  to  the  cave  where  his  forces  were 
assembled. 

"  Let  there  be  no  mistake  about  it,"  the  factor  shouted 
from  the  mermaids'  shelf,  having  promised  his  Calpurnia 
to  keep  upon  dry  land  whenever  the  water  permitted  him  ; 
"  our  friend  the  great  diver  will  first  ascertain  whether  the 
thing  which  we  seek  is  here.  If  so,  he  will  leave  it  where 
32 


498  MARY   AHERLEY. 

it  is  until  tho  arrival  of  the  Preventive  boat.  You  all 
understand  that  we  wish  to  put  the  matter  so  that  even  a 
lawyer  cannot  pick  any  hole  in  the  evidence.  Light  no  links 
until  I  tell  you.  Now,  Nicholas  the  fish,  go  down  at  once." 

Without  a  word  the  diver  plunged,  having  taken  some- 
thing between  his  teeth  which  he  would  not  let  the  others 
see.  The  watery  floor  of  the  cavern  was  as  smooth,  as  a 
mill-pond  in  July,  and  he  plugged  so  neatly  that  he  made 
no  splash  ;  nothing  but  a  flicker  of  reflection  on  the  roof, 
and  a  lapping  murmur  round  the  sides,  gave  token  that  a 
big  man  was  gone  into  the  deep.  For  several  minutes  no 
one  spoke,  but  every  eye  was  strained  upon  the  glassy  dim- 
ness, and  every  ear  intent  for  the  first  break  of  sound. 

"  T'  goop  ha'  got  un,"  cried  old  Kobin,  indignant  at 
this  outrage  by  a  stranger  to  his  caves,  "  God  niver  mahd 
mon  to  pree  intil  's  ain  warks." 

Old  Joe  and  Bob  grunted  approbation,  and  Mordacks 
himself  was  beginning  to  believe  that  some  dark  whirlpool 
or  coil  of  tangles  had  drowned  the  poor  diver,  when  a  very 
gentle  noise,  like  a  dabchick  playing  beneath  a  bridge, 
came  from  the  darkest  corner.  Nicholas  was  there,  inhal- 
ing air,  not  in  greedy  gulps  and  gasps,  like  a  man  who  has 
had  no  practice,  but  leisurely  encouraging  his  lungs  with 
little  doses,  as  a  doctor  gives  soup  to  a  starved  boat  crew. 
Being  hailed  by  loud  voices,  he  answered  not,  for  his 
nature  was  by  no  means  talkative  ;  but  presently,  with  very 
little  breach  of  water,  he  swam  to  the  middle,  and  asked 
for  his  pipe. 

"Have  you  found  the  gun?"  cried  Mordacks,  whose 
loftiest  feelings  had  subsided  in  a  quarter  of  a  minute  to  the 
business  level.  Nicholas  made  no  reply  until  the  fire  of 
his  pipe  was  established,  while  he  stood  in  the  water  quite 
as  if  he  were  on  land,  supporting  himself  by  nothing  more 
than  a  gentle  movement  of  his  feet,  while  the  glow  of  the 
touch-paper  lit  his  round  face  and  yellow  leather  skull-cap. 
u  In  coorse  I  has,"  he  said  at  last,  blowing  a  roll  of  smoke 
along  the  gleaming  surface  ;  i  i  over  to  yon  little  cornder. ' ' 

"  And  you  can  put  your  hand  upon  it  in  a  moment  ?" 
The  reply  was  a  nod  and  another  roll  of  smoke.  ' i  Admir- 
able !  Now,  then,  Joe,  and  Bob  the  son  of  Joe,  do  what 


NICHOLAS  THE   FISH.  499 

I  told  you,  while  Master  Cockscroft  and  our  nimble  young 
friend  get  the  links  all  ready. " 

The  torches  were  fixed  on  the  rocky  shelf,  as  they  had 
been  upon  the  fatal  night  ;  but  they  were  not  lit  until  Joe  and 
his  son,  sent  forth  in  the  smaller  boat  to  watch,  came  back 
with  news  that  the  Preventive  gig  was  round  the  point,  and 
approaching  swiftly,  with  a  lady  in  the  stern,  whose  dress 
was  black. 

"  Right  !"  cried  Mr.  Mordacks,  with  a  brisk  voice  ring- 
ing under  the  ponderous  brows  of  rock  ;  "  men,  I  have 
brought  you  to  receive  a  lesson.  You  shall  see  what  comes 
of  murder.  Light  the  torches.  Nicholas,  go  under,  with 
the  exception  of  your  nose,  or  whatever  it  is  you  breathe 
with.  When  I  lift  my  hand,  go  down  ;  and  do  as  I  have 
ordered  you." 

The  cavern  was  lit  with  the  flare  of  fire,  and  the  dark 
still  water  heaved  with  it,  when  the  coast-guard  boat  came 
gliding  in.  The  crew,  in  white  jerseys,  looked  like  ghosts 
flitting  into  some  magic  scene.  Only  the  officer,  darkly 
clad,  and  standing  up  with  the  tiller-lines  in  hand,  and  the 
figure  of  a  woman  sitting  in  the  stern,  relieved  their  spectral 
whiteness. 

"  Commander  Hardlock,  and  men  of  the  coast-guard, " 
shouted  Mr.  Mordacks,  when  the  wash  of  ripples,  and  the 
drip  of  oars,  and  the  creak  of  wood  gave  silence,  "  the 
black  crime  committed  upon  this  spot  shall  no  longer  go 
unpunished.  The  ocean  itself  has  yielded  its  dark  secret  to 
the  perseverance  of  mankind,  and  the  humble  but  not  unskil- 
ful efforts  which  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  conduct.  A  good 
man  was  slain  here,  in  cold  blood  slain — a  man  of  remark- 
able capacity  and  zeal,  gallantry,  discipline,  and  every  noble 
quality,  and  the  father  of  a  very  large  family.  The  villain 
who  slew  him  would  have  slain  six  other  harmless  men  by 
perjury  if  an  enlightened  English  jury  had  been  fools  enough 
to  believe  him.  Now  I  will  show  you  what  to  believe.  I 
am  not  eloquent,  I  am  not  a  man  of  words  ;  my  motto  is 
strict  business.  And  business  with  me  is  a  power,  not  a 
name.  I  lift  my  hand  ;  you  wait  for  half  a  minute  ;  and 
then,  from  the  depths  of  this  abyss,  arises  the  gun  used  in 
the  murder." 


500  MARY   ANERLEY. 

The  men  understood  about  half  of  this,  being  honest  fel- 
lows in  the  main,  and  desiring  time  to  put  heads  to- 
gether about  the  meaning  ;  but  one  there  was  who  knew 
too  well  that  his  treacherous  sin  had  found  him  out.  He 
strove  to  look  like  the  rest,  but  felt  that  his  eyes  obeyed 
heart  more  than  brain  ;  and  then  the  widow,  who  had 
watched  him  closely  through  her  black  veil,  lifted  it,  and 
fixed  her  eyes  on  his.  Deadly  terror  seized  him,  and  he 
wished  that  he  had  shot  himself. 

"  Stand  up,  men,"  the  commander  shouted,  "  until  we 
see  the  end  of  this.  The  crime  has  been  laid  upon  our 
force.  We  scorn  the  charge  of  such  treachery.  Stand  up, 
men,  and  face,  like  innocent  men,  whatever  can  be  shown 
against  you." 

The  men  stood  up,  and  the  light  of  the  torches  fell  upon 
their  faces.  All  were  pale  with  fear  and  wonder,  but  one 
was  white  as  death  itself.  Calling  up  his  dogged  cour- 
age, and  that  bitterness  of  malice,  which  had  made  him  do 
the  deed,  and  never  yet  repent  of  it,  he  stood  as  firmly  as 
the  rest,  but  differed  from  them  in  three  things.  His  face 
wore  a  smile  ;  he  watched  one  place  only  ;  and  his  breath 
made  a  noise,  while  theirs  was  held. 

Then  from  the  water,  without  a  w^ord,  or  sign  of  any 
hand  that  moved  it,  a  long  gun  rose  before  John  Cad  man, 
and  the  butt  was  offered  to  his  hand.  He  stood  with  his 
arms  at  his  sides,  and  could  not  lift  them  to  do  anything. 
Neither  could  he  speak,  nor  make  defence,  but  stood  like 
an  image  that  is  fastened  by  the  feet. 

"  Hand  me  that,"  cried  the  officer,  sharply  ;  but  instead 
of  obeying,  the  man  stared  malignantly,  and  then  plunged 
over  the  gun  into  the  depth. 

Not  so,  however,  did  he  cheat  the  hangman  ;  Nicholas 
caught  him  (as  a  water-dog  catches  a  worn-out  glove),  and 
gave  him  to  any  one  that  would  have  him.  "  Strap  him 
tight,"  the  captain  cried  ;  and  the  men  found  relief  in 
doing  it.  At  the  next  jail  delivery  he  was  tried,  and  the 
jury  did  their  duty.  His  execution  restored  good- will,  and 
revived  that  faith  in  justice  which  subsists  upon  so  little 
food. 


I]ST   THE  THICK   OF  IT.  501 

CHAPTER  LVI. 

IN     THE     THICK      OF     IT. 

ONE  of  the  greatest  days  in  all  the  history  of  England, 
having  no  sense  of  its  future  fame,  and  being  upon  a  hos- 
tile coast,  was  shining  rather  dismally.  And  one  of  Eng- 
land's greatest  men,  the  greatest  of  all  her  sons  in  battle — 
though  few  of  them  have  been  small  at  that — was  out  of 
his  usual  mood,  and  full  of  calm  presentiment  and  gloomy 
joy.  He  knew  that  he  would  see  the  sun  no  more  ;  yet  his 
fear  was  not  of  that,  but  only  of  losing  the  light  of  duty. 
As  long  as  the  sun  endures,  he  shall  r^ever  see  duty  done 
more  brilliantly. 

The  wind  was  dropping,  to  give  the  storm  of  human  fury 
leisure  ;  and  while  a  sullen  swell  was  rolling,  canvas  napped 
and  timbers  creaked.  Like  a  team  of  mallards  in  double 
column,  plunging  and  lifting  buoyant  breasts  to  right  and 
left  alternately,  the  British  fleet  bore  down  upon  the  swan- 
like  crescent  of  the  foe.  These  were  doing  their  best  to 
fly,  but  failing  of  that  luck,  put  helm  alee,  and  shivered  in 
the  wind,  and  made  fine  speeches,  proving  that  they  must 
win  the  day. 

"  For  this  I  have  lived,  and  for  this  it  would  be  worth 
my  while  to  die,  having  no  one  left,  I  dare  say  now,  in  all 
the  world  to  care  for  me. " 

Thus  spake  the  junior  lieutenant  of  that  British  ship,  the 
Victory — a  young  man  after  the  heart  of  Nelson,  and 
gazing  now  on  Nelson's  face.  No  smarter  sailor  could  be 
found  in  all  that  noble  fleet  than  this  Lieutenant  Blyth, 
who  once  had  been  the  captain  of  all  smugglers.  He  had 
fought  his  way  up  by  skill,  and  spirit,  and  patience,  and 
good  temper,  and  the  precious  gift  of  self-reliance,  failing 
of  which  all  merit  fails.  He  had  always  thought  well  of 
himself,  but  never  destroyed  the  good  of  it  by  saying  so  ; 
and  whoever  praised  him  had  to  do  it  again,  to  outspeak 
his  modesty.  But  without  good  fortune  all  these  merits 
would  never  have  been  successes.  One  of  Robin's  truest 
merits  was  that  he  generally  earned  good-luck. 


502  MARY   AN"ERLEY. 

However,  his  spirits  were  not  in  their  usual  flow  of 
jocundity  just  now,  and  his  lively  face  was  dashed  with 
care.  Not  through  fear  of  lead,  or  steel,  or  wooden  splin- 
ter, or  a  knock  upon  the  head,  or  any  other  human  mode 
of  encouraging  humanity.  He  hoped  to  keep  out  of  the 
way  of  these,  as  even  the  greatest  heroes  do  ;  for  how 
could  the  world  get  on  if  all  its  bravest  men  went  foremost  ? 
His  mind  meant  clearly,  and  with  trust  in  proper  Provi- 
dence, to  remain  in  its  present  bodily  surroundings,  with 
which  it  had  no  fault  to  find.  Grief,  however — so  far  as 
a  man  having  faith  in  his  luck  admits  that  point — certainly 
was  making  some  little  hole  into  a  heart  of  corky  fibre. 
For  Robin  Lyth  had  heard  last  night,  when  a  schooner 
joined  the  fleet  witji  letters,  that  Mary  Anerley  at  last  was 
going  to  marry  Harry  Tanfield.  He  told  himself  over  and 
over  again  that  if  it  were  so,  the  fault  was  his  own,  because 
he  had  not  taken  proper  care  about  the  safe  dispatch  of 
letters.  Changing  from  ship  to  ship  and  from  sea  to  sea 
for  the  last  two  years  or  more,  he  had  found  but  few  oppor- 
tunities of  writing,  and  even  of  those  he  had  not  made  the 
utmost.  To  Mary  herself  he  had  never  once  written, 
knowing  well  that  her  father  forbade  it,  while  his  letters  to 
Flamborough  had  been  few,  and  some  of  those  few  had  mis- 
carried. For  the  French  had  a  very  clever  knack  just  now 
of  catching  the  English  dispatch  boats,  in  most  of  which 
they  found  accounts  of  their  own  thrashings,  as  a  listener 
catches  bad  news  of  himself.  But  none  of  these  led  them 
to  improve  their  conduct. 

Flamborough  (having  felt  certain  that  Robin  could 
never  exist  without  free-trade,  and  missing  many  little 
courtesies  that  flowed  from  his  liberal  administration),  was 
only  too  ready  to  lament  his  death,  without  insisting  on 
particulars.  Even  as  a  man  who  has  foretold  a  very  de- 
structive gale  of  wind  tempers  with  the  pride  of  truth  the 
sorrow  which  he  ought  to  feel  for  his  domestic  chimney- 
pots (as  soon  as  he  h'nds  them  upon  his  lawn),  so  Little 
Denmark,  while  bewailing,  accepted  the  loss  as  a  compli- 
ment to  its  own  renowned  sagacity. 

But  Robin  knew  not  until  last  night  that  he  was  made  dead 
at  Flamborough,  through  the  wreck  of  a  ship  which  he  had 


IN   THE  THICK   OF   IT.  503 

quitted  a  month  before  she  was  cast  away.  And  now  at 
last  he  only  heard  that  news  by  means  of  his  shipmate 
Jack  Anerley.  Jack  was  a  thorough-going  sailor  now, 
easy,  and  childish,  and  full  of  the  present,  leaving  the  past 
to  cure,  and  the  future  to  care  for  itself,  as  might  be.  He 
had  promised  Mr.  Mordacks  and  Robin  Cockscroft  to  find 
out  Robin  Lyth,  and  tell  him  all  about  the  conviction  of  John 
Cadman  ;  and  knowing  his  name  in  the  navy  and  that  of 
his  ship,  he  had  done  so  after  in-and-out  chase.  But  there 
for  the  time  he  had  rested  from  his  labors,  and  left  ' i  Davy 
Jones"  to  send  back  word  about  it  ;  which  that  Pelagian 
Davy  fails  to  do,  unless  the  message  is  enshrined  in  a  bot- 
tle, for  which  he  seems  to  cherish  true  naval  regard. 

In  this  state  of  things  the  two  brothers-in-law — as  they 
fully  intended  to  be  by  and  by — were  going  into  this  tre- 
mendous battle  :  Jack  as  a  petty  officer,  and  Robin  as  a 
junior  lieutenant  of  Lord  Nelson's  ship.  Already  had  Jack 
Anerley  begun  to  feel  for  Robin — or  Lieutenant  Blyth,  as 
he  now  was  called — that  liking  of  admiration  which  his 
clear  free  manner,  and  quickness  of  resource,  and  agreeable 
smile  in  the  teeth  of  peril,  had  won  for  him  before  he  had 
the  legal  right  to  fight  much.  And  Robin — as  he  shall 
still  be  called  while  the  memory  of  Flamborough  endures — 
regarded  Jack  Anerley  with  fatherly  affection,  and  hoped 
to  put  strength  into  his  character. 

However,  one  necessary  step  toward  that  is  to  keep  the 
character  surviving  ;  and  in  the  world's  pell-mell  now 
beginning,  the  uproar  alone  was  enough  to  kill  some,  and 
the  smoke  sufficient  to  choke  the  rest.  Many  a  British 
sailor  who,  by  the  mercy  of  Providence,  survived  that  day, 
never  could  hear  a  word  concerning  any  other  battle  (even 
though  a  son  of  his  own  delivered  it  down  a  trumpet),  so 
furious  was  the  concussion  of  the  air,  the  din  of  roaring 
metal,  and  the  clash  of  cannon-balls  which  met  in  the  air, 
and  split  up  into  founts  of  iron. 

No  less  than  seven  French  and  Spanish  ships  agreed  with 
one  accord  to  fall  upon  and  destroy  Lord  Nelson's  ship. 
And  if  they  had  only  adopted  a  rational  mode  of  doing  it, 
and  shot  straight,  they  could  hardly  have  helped  succeed- 
ing. Even  as  it  was,  they  succeeded  far  too  well,  for  they 


504  MARY   AKERLEY. 

managed  to  make  England  rue  the  tidings  of  her  greatest 
victory. 

In  the  storm  and  whirl  and  flame  of  battle,  when  shot 
flew  as  close  as  the  teeth  of  a  hay-rake,  and  fire  blazed 
into  furious  eyes,  and  then  with  a  blow  was  quenched  for- 
ever, and  raging  men  flew  into  pieces — some  of  which  killed 
their  dearest  friends — who  was  he  that  could  do  more  than 
to  attend  to  his  own  business  ?  Nelson  had  known  that  it 
would  be  so,  and  had  twice  enjoined  it  in  his  orders  ;  and 
when  he  was  carried  down  to  die,  his  dying  mind  was  still 
on  this.  Robin  Lyth  was  close  to  him  when  he  fell,  and 
helped  to  bear  him  to  his  plank  of  death,  and  came  back 
with  orders  not  to  speak,  but  work. 

Then  ensued  that  crowning  effort  of  misplaced  audacity 
— the  attempt  to  board  and  carry  by  storm  the  ship  that  still 
was  Nelson's.  The  captain  of  the  Redoubtable  saw  through 
an  alley  of  light,  between  walls  of  smoke,  that  the  quarter- 
deck of  the  Victory  had  plenty  of  corpses,  but  scarcely  a 
life  upon  it.  Also  he  felt  (from  the  comfort  to  his  feet, 
and  the  increasing  firmness  of  his  spinal  column)  that  the 
heavy  British  guns  upon  the  lower  decks  had  ceased  to 
throb  and  thunder  into  his  own  poor  ship.  With  a  bound 
of  high  spirits  he  leaped  to  a  pleasing  conclusion,  and 
shouted,  u  Forward,  my  brave  sons  ;  we  will  take  the  vessel 
of  war  of  that  Nielson  !" 

This,  however,  proved  to  be  beyond  his  power,  partly 
through  the  inborn  absurdity  of  the  thing,  and  partly,  no 
doubt,  through  the  quick  perception  and  former  vocation 
of  Robin  Lyth.  What  would  England  have  said  if  her 
greatest  hero  had  breathed  his  last  in  French  arms,  and  a 
captive  to  the  Frenchman  ?  Could  Nelson  himself  have 
departed  thus  to  a  world  in  which  he  never  could  have  put 
the  matter  straight  ?  The  wrong  would  have  been  re- 
dressed very  smartly  here,  but  perhaps  outside  his  knowl- 
edge. Even  to  dream  of  it  awakes  a  shudder  ;  yet  out- 
rages almost  as  great  have  triumphed,  and  nothing  is  quite 
beyond  the  irony  of  fate. 

But  if  free-trade  cannot  be  shown  as  yet  to  have  won 
for  our  country  any  other  blessing,  it  has  earned  the  last 
atom  of  our  patience  and  fortitude  by  its  indirect  benevo- 


IK   THE  THICK   OF   IT.  505 

lence  at  this  great  time.  Without  free-trade — in  its  sweeter 
and  more  innocent  maidenhood  of  smuggling — there  never 
could  have  been  on  board  that  English  ship  the  Victory,  a 
man,  unless  he  were  a  runagate,  with  a  mind  of  such  laxity 
as  to  understand  French.  But  Robin  Lyth  caught  the 
French  captain's  words,  and  with  two  bounds,  and  a  holloa, 
called  up  Britons  from  below.  By  this  time  a  swarm  of 
brave  Frenchmen  was  gathered  in  the  mizzen-chains  and 
gangways  of  their  ship,  waiting  for  a  lift  of  the  sea  to 
launch  them  into  the  English  outworks.  And  scarcely  a 
dozen  Englishmen  were  alive  within  hail  to  encounter  them. 
Not  even  an  officer,  till  Kobin  Lyth  returned,  was  there  to 
take  command  of  them.  The  foremost  and  readiest  there 
was  Jack  Anerley,  with  a  boarder's  pike,  and  a  brace  of  ship 
pistols,  and  his  fine  ruddy  face  screwed  up  as  firm  as  his 
father's,  before  a  big  sale  of  wheat.  "  Come  on,  you  frog- 
gies  ;  we  are  ready  for  you,"  he  shouted,  as  if  he  had  a 
hundred  men  in  ambush. 

They,  for  their  part,  failed  to  enter  into  the  niceties  of 
his  language — which  difficulty  somehow  used  never  to  be 
felt  among  classic  warriors — yet  from  his  manner  and  posi- 
tion they  made  out  that  he  offered  let  and  hinderance.  To 
remove  him  from  their  course,  they  began  to  load  guns,  or 
to  look  about  for  loaded  ones,  postponing  their  advance 
until  he  should  cease  to  interfere,  so  clear  at  that  time  was 
the  Gallic  perception  of  an  English  sailor's  fortitude. 
Seeing  this  to  be  so,  Jack  (whose  mind  was  not  well  bal- 
anced) threw  a  powder-case  among  them,  and  exhibited  a 
dance.  But  this  was  cut  short  by  a  hand-grenade,  and 
before  he  had  time  to  recover  from  that,  the  deck  within  a 
yard  of  his  head  flew  open,  and  a  stunning  crash  went  by. 

Poor  Jack  Anerley  lay  quite  senseless,  while  ten  or  twelve 
men  (who  were  rushing  up  to  repel  the  enemy)  fell  and  died 
in  a  hurricane  of  splinters.  A  heavy  round  shot,  fired  up 
from  the  enemy's  main-deck,  had  shattered  all  before  it  ; 
and  Jack  might  thank  the  grenade  that  he  lay  on  his  back, 
while  the  havoc  swept  over.  Still,  his  peril  was  hot,  for  a 
volley  of  musketry  whistled  and  rang  around  him  ;  and  at 
least  a  hundred  and  fifty  men  were  watching  their  time  to 
leap  down  on  him. 


506  MARY   A1STERLEY. 

Everything  now  looked  as  bad  as  could  be,  with,  the 
drifting  of  the  smoke,  and  the  flare  of  fire,  and  the  pelt- 
ing of  bullets,  and  of  grapnel  from  cohorns,  and  the 
screams  of  Frenchmen  exulting  vastly,  with  scarcely  any 
Englishmen  to  stop  them.  It  seemed  as  if  they  were  to  do 
as  they  pleased,  level  the  bulwarks  of  English  rights,  and 
cover  themselves  with  more  glory  than  ever.  But  while 
they  yet  waited  to  give  one  more  scream,  a  very  different 
sound  arose.  Powder,  and  metal,  and  crash  of  timber, 
and  even  French  and  Spanish  throats  at  their  very  highest 
pressure,  were  of  no  avail  against  the  onward  vigor  and 
power  of  an  English  cheer.  This  cheer  had  a  very  fine 
effect.  Out  of  their  own  mouths  the  foreigners  at  once 
were  convicted  of  inferior  stuff,  and  their  two  twelve- 
pounders  crammed  with  grapnel,  which  ought  to  have  scat- 
tered mortality,  banged  upward,  as  harmless  as  a  pod  dis- 
charging seed. 

In  no  account  of  this  great  conflict  is  any  precision  ob- 
served concerning  the  pell-mell  and  fisticuff  parts  of  it. 
The  worst  of  it  is  that  on  such  occasions,  almost  everybody 
who  was  there  enlarges  his  own  share  of  it  ;  and  although 
reflection  ought  to  curb  this  inclination,  it  seems  to  do 
quite  the  contrary.  This  may  be  the  reason  why  nobody 
as  yet  (except  Mary  Anerley  and  Flamborough  folk)  seems 
even  to  have  tried  to  assign  fair  importance  to  Robin  Lyth's 
share  in  this  glorious  encounter.  It  is  now  too  late  to 
strive  against  the  tide  of  fortuitous  clamor,  whose  deposit 
is  called  history.  Enough,  that  this  Englishman  came  up, 
with  fifty  more  behind  him,  and  carried  all  before  him,  as 
he  was  bound  to  do. 


CHAPTER  LYII. 

MARY    LYTII. 


CONQUESTS,  triumphs,  and  slaughterous  glory  are  not 
very  nice  till  they  have  ceased  to  drip.  After  that  extinc- 
tion of  the  war  upon  the  waves,  the  nation  which  had  won 
the  fight  went  into  general  mourning.  Sorrow,  as  deep  as 
a  maiden's  is  at  the  death  of  her  lover,  spread  over  the 


MARY   LYTTI.  507 

land  ;  and  people  who  had  married  their  romance  away,  and 
fathered  off  their  enthusiasm,  abandoned  themselves  to  even 
deeper  anguish  at  the  insecurity  of  property.  So  deeply 
had  England's  faith  been  anchored  into  the  tenacity  of  Nel- 
son. The  fall  of  the  funds  when  the  victory  was  announced 
outspoke  a  thousand  monuments. 

From  sires  and  grandsires  Englishmen  have  learned  the 
mood  into  which  their  country  fell.  To  have  fought  under 
Nelson  in  his  last  fight  was  a  password  to  the  right  hands  of 
men,  and  into  the  hearts  of  women.  Even  a  man  who 
had  never  been  known  to  change  his  mind  began  to  con- 
demn other  people  for  being  obstinate.  Farmer  Anerley 
went  to  church  in  his  Fencible  accoutrements,  with  a  sash 
of  heavy  crape,  upon  the  first  day  of  the  Christian  year. 
To  prove  the  largeness  of  his  mind,  he  harnessed  the  white- 
nosed  horse,  and  drove  his  family  away  from  his  own  par- 
ish, to  St.  Oswald's  Church  at  Flamborough,  where  Dr. 
Upround  was  to  preach  upon  the  death  of  Nelson.  This 
sermon  was  of  the  noblest  order,  eloquent,  spirited,  theo- 
logical, and  yet  so  thoroughly  practical,  that  seven  Flam- 
borough  boys  set  off  on  Monday  to  destroy  French  ships  of 
war.  Mary  did  her  very  utmost  not  to  cry — for  she  wanted 
so  particularly  to  watch  her  father — but  nature  and  the 
doctor  were  too  many  for  her.  And  when  he  came  to 
speak  of  the  distinguished  part  played  (under  Providence) 
by  a  gallant  son  of  Flamborough,  who,  after  enduring  with 
manly  silence,  evil  report  and  unprccious  balms,  stood  for- 
ward in  the  breach,  like  Phineas,  and,  with  the  sword  of 
Gideon,  defied  Philistia  to  enter  the  British  ark;  and  when  lie 
went  on  to  say  that  but  for  Flamborough' s  prowess  on  that 
day,  and  the  valor  of  the  adjoining  parish  (which  had  also 
supplied  a  hero),  England  might  be  mourning  her  foremost 
TT/K^a^og,  her  very  greatest  fighter  in  the  van,  without  the 
consolation  of  burying  him,  and  embalming  him  in  a  na- 
tion's tears — for  the  French  might  have  fired  the  magazine 
— and  when  he  proceeded  to  ask  who  it  was  that  (under 
the  guiding  of  a  gracious  hand)  had  shattered  the  devices 
of  the  enemy,  up  stood  Robin  Cockscroft,  with  a  score  of 
equally  ancient  captains,  and  remembering  where  they  were, 
touched  their  forelocks,  and  answered,  "  Robin  Lyth,  sir  !" 


508  MARY   AKERLEY. 

Then  Mary  permitted  the  pride  of  her  heart,  which  had 
long  been  painful  with  the  tight  control,  to  escape  in  a  sob, 
which  her  mother  had  foreseen  ;  and  pulling  out  the  stop- 
per from  her  smelling-bottle,  Mistress  Anerley  looked  at 
her  husband  as  if  he  were  Bonaparte  himself.  He,  though 
aware  that  it  was  inconsistent  of  her,  felt  (as  he  said  after- 
ward) as  if  he  had  been  a  Frenchman  ;  and  looked  for  his 
hat,  and  fumbled  about  for  the  button  of  the  pew,  to  get 
out  of  it.  But  luckily  the  clerk,  with  great  presence  of 
mind,  awoke,  and  believing  the  sermon  to  be  over,  from 
the  number  of  men  who  were  standing  up,  pronounced 
"  Amen"  decisively. 

During  the  whole  of  the  homeward  drive  Farmer  Aner- 
ley 's  countenance  was  full  of  thought  ;  but  he  knew  that  it 
was  watched,  and  he  did  not  choose  to  let  people  get  in 
front  of  him  with  his  own  brains.  Therefore  he  let  his 
wife  and  daughter  look  at  him  to  their  hearts'  content, 
while  he  looked  at  the  ledges,  and  the  mud,  and  the  ears  of 
his  horse,  and  the  weather  ;  and  he  only  made  two  observa- 
tions of  moment,  one  of  which  was  "  gee  !"  and  the  other 
was  "  whoa  !" 

With  females  jolting  up  and  down,  upon  no  springs — ex- 
cept those  of  jerksome  curiosity — conduct  of  this  character 
was  rude  in  the  extreme.  But  knowing  what  he  was,  they 
glanced  at  one  another,  not  meaning  in  any  sort  of  way  to 
blame  him,  but  only  that  he  would  be  better  by  and  by, 
and  perhaps  try  to  make  amends  handsomely.  And  this, 
beyond  any  denial,  he  did  as  soon  as  he  had  dined,  and 
smoked  his  pipe  on  the  butt  of  the  tree  by  the  rick-yard. 
Nobody  knew  where  he  kept  his  money,  or  at  least  his 
good  wife  always  said  so,  when  any  one  made  bold  to  ask 
her.  And  even  now  he  was  right-down  careful  to  go  to 
his  pot,  without  anybody  watching  ;  so  that  when  he  came 
into  the  Sunday  parlor  there  was  not  one  of  them  who 
could  say,  even  at  a  guess,  where  he  last  had  been. 

Master  Simon  Popplewell,  gentleman-tanner  (called  out 
of  his  name,  and  into  the  name  of  "  Johnny,'5  even  by  his 
own  wife,  because  there  was  no  sign  of  any  Simon  in  him), 
he  was  there,  and  his  good  wife  Debby,  and  Mistress  An- 
erley in  her  best  cap,  and  Mary  dressed  in  royal  navy  blue, 


MARY   LYTII.  509 

with  bars  of  black  (for  Lord  Nelson's  sake),  according  to 
the  kind  gift  of  aunt  and  uncle  ;  also  Willie,  looking  won- 
derfully handsome,  though  pale  with  the  failure  of  "  per- 
petual motion/'  and  inclined  to  be  languid,  as  great  genius 
should  be  in  its  intervals  of  activity.  Among  them  a  lively 
talk  was  stirring  ;  and  the  farmer  said,  "  Ah  !  you  was 
talking  about  me. ' ' 

44  We  mought  be  ;  and  yet  again  we  nought  not,"  Mas- 
ter Popplewell  returned,  with  a  glance  at  Mrs.  Deborah, 
who  had  just  been  describing  to  the  company  how  much 
her  husband  excelled  in  jokesomeness.  "  Brother  Stephen, 
a  good  man  seeks  to  be  spoken  of,  and  a  bad  one  objects 
to  it,  in  vain. ' ' 

44  Very  well.  You  shall  have  something  for  your  money. 
Mary,  you  know  where  the  old  Mydeary  wine  is  that  come 
from  your  godfathers  and  godmothers  when  you  was  called 
in  baptism.  Take  you  the  key  from  your  mother,  child, 
and  bring  you  up  a  bottle,  and  brother  Popplewell  will  open 
it,  for  such  things  is  beyond  me." 

44  Well  done,  our  side  !"  exclaimed  the  tanner  ;  for  if 
he  had  a  weakness,  it  was  for  Madeira,  which  he  always 
declared  to  have  a  musky  smack  of  tan  ;  and  a  waggish 
customer  had  told  him  once  that  the  grapes  it  was  made 
of  were  always  tanned  first.  The  others  kept  silence,  fore- 
seeing great  events. 

Then  Mr.  Popplewell,  poised  with  calm  discretion,  and 
moving  with  the  nice  precision  of  a  fine  watchmaker,  shed 
into  the  best  decanter  (softly  as  an  angel's  tears),  liquid 
beauty,  not  too  gaudy,  not  too  sparkling  with  shallow 
light,  not  too  ruddy  with  sullen  glow,  but  vivid — like  a 
noble  gem,  a  brown  cairngorm — with  mellow  depth  of 
lustre.  44  That's  your  sort  !"  the  tanner  cried,  after  put- 
ting his  tongue,  while  his  wife  looked  shocked,  to  the  lip 
of  the  empty  bottle. 

44  Such  things  is  beyond  my  knowledge,"  answered  Farm- 
er Anerley,  as  soon  as  he  saw  the  best  glasses  filled  ; 
44  but  nothing  in  nature  is  too  good  to  speak  a  good  man's 
health  in.  Now  fill  you  up  a  little  glass  for  Mary  ;  and, 
Perpetual  Motion,  you  stand  up,  which  is  more  than  your 
machines  can  do.  Now  here  I  stand,  and  txlrink  good 


510  MARY   A^ERLEY. 

health  to  a  man  as  I  never  clapped  eyes  on  yet,  and  would 
have  preferred  to  keep  the  door  between  us  ;  but  the  Lord 
hath  ordered  otherwise.  He  hath  wiped  out  all  his  faults 
against  the  law  ;  he  hath  fought  for  the  honor  of  old  Eng- 
land well ;  and  he  hath  saved  the  life  of  my  son  Jack.  Spite 
of  all  that,  I  might  refuse  to  unspeak  my  words,  which  I 
never  did  afore,  if  it  had  not  been  that  I  wronged  the  man. 
I  have  wronged  the  young  fellow,  and  I  am  man  enough 
to  say  so.  I  called  him  a  murderer  and  a  sneak,  and  time 
hath  proved  me  to  have  been  a  liar.  Therefore,  I  ask  his 
pardon  humbly  ;  and,  what  will  be  more  to  his  liking,  per- 
haps, I  say  that  he  shall  have  my  daughter  Mary,  if  she 
abides  agreeable.  And  I  put  down  these  here  twenty 
guineas,  for  Mary  to  look  as  she  ought  to  look.  She  hath 
been  a  good  lass,  and  hath  borne  with  me  better  than  one 
in  a  thousand  would  have  done.  Mary,  my  love,  to  you  ; 
and  with  leave  all  round,  here's  the  very  good  health  of 
Robin  Lyth  !" 

"  Here's  the  health  of  Robin  Lyth  I"  shouted  Mr.  Pop- 
plewell,  with  his  fat  cheeks  shining  merrily.  "  Hurrah 
for  the  lad  who  saved  Nelson's  death  from  a  Frenchman's 
grins,  and  saved  our  Jack  boy  !  Stephen  Anerley,  I  for- 
give you.  This  is  the  right  stuff,  and  no  mistake.  Deb- 
orah, come  and  kiss  the  farmer." 

Mrs.  Popplewell  obeyed  her  husband,  as  the  manner  of 
good  wives  is.  And  over  and  above  this  fleeting  joy,  solid 
satisfaction  entered  into  noble  hearts,  which  felt  that  now 
the  fruit  of  laborious  years,  and  the  cash  of  many  a  tanning 
season,  should  never  depart  from  the  family.  And  to 
make  an  end  of  any  weak  misgivings,  even  before  the  ladies 
went — to  fill  the  pipes  for  the  gentlemen — the  tanner  drew 
with  equal  care,  and  even  better  nerve,  the  second  bottle's 
cork,  and  expressed  himself  as  follows  : 

"  Brother  Steve  hath  done  the  right  thing.  We  hardly 
expected  it  of  him,  by  rights  of  his  confounded  stubbornness. 
But  when  a  shut-up  man  repenteth,  he  is  equal  to  a  hoyster 
or  this  here  bottle.  What  good  would  this  a'  been  with- 
out it  was  sealed  over  ?  Now  mark  my  words.  I'll  not 
be  behind  no  man  when  it  comes  to  the  right  side  up.  I 
may  be  a  poor  man,  a  very  poor  man  ;  and  people  count- 


MARY   LYT1I.  511 

ing  otherwise  might  find  themselves  mistaken.  I  likes  to 
be  liked  for  myself  only.  But  the  day  oar  Mary  goes  to 
church  with  Robin  Lyth  she  shall  have  £500  tied  upon  her 
back,  or  else  my  name's  not  Popplewell." 

Mary  had  left  the  room  long  ago,  after  giving  her  father 
a  gentle  kiss,  and  whispering  to  Willie  that  he  should  have 
half  of  her  twenty  guineas  for  inventing  things  ;  which  is  a 
most  expensive  process,  and  should  be  more  highly  encour- 
aged. Therefore  she  could  not  express  at  the  moment  her 
gratitude  to  Squire  Popple  well  ;  but  as  soon  as  she  heard 
of  his  generosity,  it  lifted  a  great  weight  off  her  mind,  and 
enabled  her  to  think  about  furnishing  a  cottage.  But  she 
never  told  even  her  mother  of  that.  Perhaps  Robin  might 
have  seen  some  one  he  liked  better.  Perhaps  he  might 
have  heard  that  stupid  story  about  her  having  taken  up  with 
poor  Harry  Tanfield  ;  and  that  might  have  driven  him  to 
wed  a  foreign  lady,  and  therefore  to  fight  so  desperately. 
None,  however,  of  these  perhapses  went  very  deeply  into 
her  heart,  which  was  equally  trusting  and  trusty. 

Now  some  of  her  confidence  in  the  future  was  justified 
that  very  moment  almost,  by  a  sudden  and  great  arrival, 
not  of  Jack  Ancrley  and  Robin  Lyth  (who  Avere  known  to 
be  coming  home  together),  but  of  a  gentleman  whose  skill 
and  activity  deserved  all  thanks  for  every  good  thing  that 
had  happened. 

"  Well  !  I  am  in  the  very  nick  of  time.  It  is  my  na- 
ture, ' '  cried  Mr.  Mordacks,  seated  in  the  best  chair  by  the 
fire.  u  Why  ?  you  inquire,  with  your  native  penetration. 
Simply  because  in  very  early  days  I  acquired  the  habit  of 
punctuality.  This  holding  good  where  an  appointment  is, 
holds  good  afterward,  from  the  force  of  habit,  in  matters 
that  are  of  luck  alone.  The  needle-eye  of  time  gets  ac- 
customed to  be  hit,  and  turns  itself  up,  without  waiting  for 
the  clew.  Wonderful  Madeira  !  Well,  Captain  Anerley, 
no  wonder  that  you  have  discouraged  free-trade  with  your 
cellars  full  of  this  !  It  is  twenty  years  since  I  have  tasted 
such  wine.  Mistress  Anerley,  I  have  the  honor  of  quaffing 
this  glass  to  your  very  best  health,  and  that  of  a  very  charm- 
ing young  lady,  who  has  hitherto  failed  to  appreciate  me." 

"  Then,  sir,  I  am  here  to  beg  your  pardon,"  said  Mary, 


512  MARY   AKERLEY. 

coming  up  with  a  beautiful  blush.  "  When  I  saw  you 
first,  I  did  not  enter  into  your — your — " 

"  My  outspoken  manner  and  short  business  style.  But 
I  hope  that  you  have  come  to  like  me  better.  All  good 
persons  do  when  they  come  to  know  me. " 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  I  was  quite  ashamed  of  myself  when  I  came 
to  learn  all  that  you  have  done  for  somebody,  and  your 
wonderful  kindness  at  Bridlington. ' ' 

"  Famously  said  !  You  inherit  from  your  mother  the 
power  and  the  charm  of  expression.  And  now,  my  dear 
lady,  good  Mistress  Anerley,  I  shall  undo  all  my  great 
merits  by  showing  that  I  am  like  the  letter- writers,  who 
never  write  until  they  have  need  of  something.  Captain 
Anerley,  it  concerns  you  also,  as  a  military  man,  and  loyal 
soldier  of  King  George.  A  gallant  young  officer  (highly 
distinguished  in  his  own  way,  and  very  likely  to  get  on, 
in  virtue  of  high  connection)  became  of  age  some  few 
weeks  back,  and  being  the  heir  to  large  estates  determined 
to  entail  them.  I  speak  as  in  a  parable.  My  meaning  is 
one  which  the  ladies  will  gracefully  enter  into.  Being  a 
large  heir,  he  is  not  selfish,  but  would  fain  share  his  bless- 
ings with  a  little  one.  In  a  word,  he  is  to  marry  a  very 
beautiful  young  lady  to-morrow,  and  under  my  agency. 
But  he  has  a  very  delightful  mother,  and  an  aunt  of  a  lofty 
and  commanding  mind,  whose  views,  however,  are  com- 
paratively narrow.  For  a  hasty,  brief  season  they  will  be 
wroth  ;  and  it  would  be  unjust  to  be  angry  with  them. 
But  love's  indignation  is  soon  cured  by  absence,  and  tones 
down  rapidly  into  desire  to  know  how  the  sinner  is  getting 
on.  In  the  present  case,  a  fortnight  will  do  the  business  ; 
or  if  for  a  month,  so  much  the  better.  Heroes  are  in  demand 
just  now  ;  and  this  young  gentleman  took  such  a  scare  in 
his  very  first  fight  that  he  became  a  hero,  and  so  has  be- 
haved himself  ever  since.  Ladies,  I  am  astonished  at  your 
goodness  in  not  interrupting  me.  Your  minds  must  be  as 
practical  as  my  own.  Now  this  lovely  young  pair,  being 
married  to-morrow,  will  have  to  go  hunting  for  the  honey 
in  the  moon,  to  which  such  enterprises  lead.7' 

1  i  Sir,  you  are  very  right, ' '  Squire  Popplewell  replied  ; 
and,  "  That  is  Bible  truth,"  said  the  farmer. 


MARY   LYTH.  513 

"  Our  minds  are  enlarged  by  experience, "  resumed  the 
genial  factor,  pleasantly,  and  bowing  to  the  ladies,  who  de- 
clined to  say  a  word  until  a  better  opportunity,  "  and  we 
like  to  see  the  process  going  on  with  others.  But  a  nest 
must  be  found  for  these  young  doves — a  quiet  one,  a  simple 
one,  a  place  where  they  may  learn  to  put  up  with  one  an- 
other's cookery.  The  secret  of  happiness  in  this  world  is 
not  to  be  too  particular.  I  have  hit  upon  the  very  place  to 
make  them  thankful  by  and  by,  when  they  come  to  look  back 
upon  it — a  sweet  little  hole,  half  a  league  away  from  any- 
body. All  is  arranged — a  frying-pan,  a  brown-ware  tea- 
pot, a  skin  of  lard,  a  cock  and  a  hen,  to  lay  some  eggs  ;  a 
hundredweight  of  ship  biscuits,  warranted  free  from  weevil, 
and  a  knife  and  fork.  Also  a  way  to  the  sea,  and  a  net, 
for  them  to  fish  together.  Nothing  more  delightful  can  be 
imagined.  Under  such  circumstances  they  will  settle,  in 
three  days,  which  is  to  be  the  master — which  I  take  to  be 
the  most  important  of  all  marriage  settlements.  And,  un- 
less I  am  very  much  mistaken,  it  will  be  the  right  one — the 
lady.  My  little  heroine,  Jerry  Carroway,  is  engaged  as 
their  factotum,  and  every  auspice  is  favorable.  But  without 
your  consent  all  is  knocked  on  the  head  ;  for  the  cottage  is 
yours,  and  the  tenant  won't  go  out,  even  under  temptation 
of  five  guineas,  without  your  written  order.  Mistress  Aner- 
ley,  I  appeal  to  you.  Captain,  say  nothing.  This  is  a 
lady's  question." 

"  Then  I  like  to  have  a  little  voice  sometimes,  though  it 
is  not  often  that  I  get  it.  And,  Mr.  Mordacks,  I  say  '  Yes. ' 
And  out  of  the  five  guineas  we  shall  get  our  rent,  or  some 
of  it,  perhaps,  from  Poacher  Tim,  who  owes  us  nigh  upon 
two  years  now." 

The  farmer  smiled  at  his  wife's  good  thrift,  and,  being  in 
a  pleasant  mood,  consented,  if  so  be  the  law  could  not  be 
brought  against  him,  and  if  the  young  couple  would  not 
stop  too  long,  or  have  any  family  to  fall  upon  the  rates. 
The  factor  assured  him  against  all  evils  ;  and  then  created 
quite  a  brisk  sensation  by  telling  them,  in  strict  confidence, 
that  the  young  officer  was  one  Lancelot  Yordas,  own  first 
cousin  to  the  famous  Robin  Lyth,  and  nephew  to  Sir  Dun- 
can Yordas.  And  the  lady  was  the  daughter  of  Sir  Dun- 
33 


514  MARY   AKERLEY. 

can's  oldest  friend,  the  very  one  whose  name  he  had  given 
to  his  son.  Wonder  never  ceased  among  them  when  they 
thought  how  things  came  round. 

Things  came  round  not  .only  thus,  but  also  even  better 
afterward.  Mordacks  had  a  very  beautiful  revenge  of 
laughter  at  old  Jellicorse,  by  outstripping  him  vastly  in  the 
family  affairs.  But  Mr.  Jellicorse  did  not  care,  so  long  as 
he  still  had  eleven  boxes  left  of  title-deeds  to  Scargate  Hall, 
no  liability  about  the  twelfth,  and  a  very  fair  prospect  of 
a  lawsuit  yet  for  the  multiplication  of  the  legal  race. 
And  meeting  Mr.  Mordacks  in  the  highest  legal  circles,  at 
Proctor  Brigant's,  in  Crypt  Court,  York,  he  acknowledged 
that  he  never  met  a  more  delightful  gentleman,  until  he 
found  out  what  his  name  was.  And  even  then  he  offered 
him  a  pinch  of  snuff,  and  they  shook  hands  very  warmly 
without  anything  to  pay. 

When  Robin  Lyth  came  home  he  was  dissatisfied  at  first 
— so  difficult  is  mankind  to  please — because  his  good  luck 
had  been  too  good.  No  scratch  of  steel,  no  permanent 
scorch  of  powder  was  upon  him,  and  England  was  not  in 
the  mood  to  value  any  unwounded  valor.  But  even  here 
his  good  luck  stood  him  in  strong  stead,  and  cured  his 
wrong.  For  when  the  body  of  the  lamented  hero  arrived 
at  Spithead,  in  spirits  of  wino,  early  in  December,  it  was 
found  that  the  Admiralty  had  failed  to  send  down  any 
orders  about  it.  Reports,  however,  were  current  of  some 
intention  that  the  hero  should  lie  in  state,  and  the  battered 
ship  went  on  with  him.  And  when  at  last  proper  care  was 
shown  and  the  relics  of  one  of  the  noblest  men  that  ever 
lived  upon  the  tide  of  time  were  being  transferred  to  a 
yacht  at  the  Nore,  Robin  Lyth,  in  a  sad  and  angry  mood, 
neglected  to  give  a  wide  berth  to  a  gun  that  was  helping  to 
keep  up  the  mourning  salute,  and  a  piece  of  wad  carried  off 
his  starboard  whisker. 

This  at  once  replaced  him  in  the  popular  esteem,  and 
enabled  him  to  land  upon  the  Yorkshire  coast  with  a  cer- 
tainty of  glorious  welcome.  Mr.  Mordacks  himself  came 
down  to  meet  him  at  the  Northern  Landing,  with  Dr. 
Upround  and  Robin  Cockscroft,  and  nearly  all  the  men, 
and  entirely  all  the  women  and  children,  of  Little  Den- 


MARY    LYTII.  515 

mark.  Strangers  also  from  outlandish  parts,  Squire  Pop- 
pleweil  and  his  wife  Deborah,  Mrs.  Carroway  (with  her 
Tom,  and  Jerry,  and  Cissy,  and  lesser  Carroways,  for  her 
old  aunt  Jane  was  gone  to  Paradise  at  last,  and  had  left  her 
enough  to  keep  a  pouy  carriage),  and  a  great  many  others, 
and  especially  a  group  of  four  distinguished  persons,  who 
stood  at  the  top  of  the  slide,  because  of  the  trouble  of  get- 
ting back  if  they  went  down. 

These  had  a  fair  and  double-horsed  carriage  in  the  lane, 
at  the  spot  where  fish  face  their  last  tribunal  ;  and  scarcely 
any  brains  but  those  of  Flamborough  could  have  absorbed 
such  a  spectacle  as  this,  together  with  the  deeper  expecta- 
tions from  the  sea.  Of  these  four  persons  two  were  young 
enough,  and  two  not  so  young  as  they  had  been,  but  still 
very  lively,  and  well  pleased  with  one  another.  These  were 
Mrs.  Carnaby  and  Mr.  Bart  ;  the  pet  of  the  one  had  united 
his  lot  with  the  darling  of  the  other  ;  for  good  or  for  bad, 
there  was  no  getting  out  of  it,  and  the  only  thing  was  to 
make  the  best  of  it.  And  being  good  people,  they  were 
doing  this  successfully.  Poor  Mrs.  Carnaby  had  said  to 
Mr.  Bart,  as  soon  as  Mr.  Mordacks  let  her  know  about  the 
wedding,  "  Oh,  but,  Mr.  Bart,  you  are  a  gentleman  ;  now, 
are  you  not  ?  I  am  sure  you  are,  though  you  do  such 
things  !  I  am  sure  of  it  by  your  countenance. 7 7 

"  Madam,77  Mr.  Bart  replied,  with  a  bow  that  was  de- 
cisive, "  if  I  am  not  it  is  my  own  fault,  as  it  is  the  fault  of 
every  man.'7 

At  this  present  moment  they  were  standing  with  their 
children,  Lancelot  and  Insie,  who  had  nicely  recovered 
from  matrimony,  and  began  to  be  too  high-spirited.  They 
all  knew,  by  virtue  of  Mr.  Mordacks,  who  Robin  Lyth  was  ; 
and  they  wanted  to  see  him,  and  be  kind  to  him,  if  he 
made  no  claim  upon  them.  And  Mr.  Bart  desired,  as  his 
father's  friend,  to  shake  hands  with  him,  and  help  him,  if 
help  were  needed. 

But  Robin,  with  a  grace  and  elegance  which  he  must  have 
imported  from  foreign  parts,  declined  all  connection  and 
acquaintance  with  them,  and  declared  his  set  resolve  to 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  name  of  ' '  Yordas. 7  7  They 
were  grieved,  as  they  honestly  declared,  to  hear  it,  but 


516  MARY   AXERLEY. 

could  not  help  owning  that  his  pride  was  just  ;  and  they 
felt  that  their  name  was  the  richer  for  not  having  any  poor 
people  to  share  it. 

Yet  Captain  Lyth — as  he  now  was  called,  even  by  reve- 
nue officers — in  no  way  impoverished  his  name  by  taking 
another  to  share  it  with  him.  The  farmer  declared  that 
there  should  be  no  wedding  until  he  had  sold  seven  stacks 
of  wheat,  for  his  meaning  was  to  do  things  well.  But  this 
obstacle  did  not  last  long,  for  those  were  times  when  corn 
was  golden,  not  in  landscape  only. 

So  when  the  spring  was  fair  with  promise  of  green  for 
the  earth,  and  of  blue  for  heaven,  and  of  silver-gray  upon 
the  sea,  the  little  church  close  to  Anerley  Farm  filled  up  all 
the  complement  of  colors.  There  was  scarlet  of  Dr.  Up- 
round's  hood  (brought  by  the  Precious  boy  from  Flambor- 
ough)  ;  a  rich  plum-color  in  the  coat  of  Mordacks  ;  delicate 
rose  and  virgin  white  in  the  blush  and  the  brow  of  Mary  ; 
every  tint  of  the  rainbow  on  her  mother's  part  ;  and  gold, 
rich  gold,  in  a  great  tanned  bag,  on  behalf  of  Squire  Pop- 
plewell.  His  idea  of  a  "  settlement"  was  cash  down,  and 
he  put  it  on  the  parish  register. 

Mary  found  no  cause  to  repent  of  the  long  endurance  of 
her  truth,  and  the  steadfast  power  of  quiet  love.  Robin 
was  often  in  the  distance  still,  far  beyond  the  silvery  streak 
of  England's  new  salvation.  But  Mary  prayed  for  his  safe 
return  ;  and  safe  he  was  by  the  will  of  the  Lord,  which 
helps  the  man  who  helps  himself,  and  has  made  his  hand 
bigger  than  his  tongue.  When  the  war  was  over  Captain 
Lyth  came  home,  and  trained  his  children  in  the  ways  in 
which  he  should  have  walked,  and  the  duties  they  should 
do  and  pay. 


THE   END. 


SOME  POPULAR  NOYELS 

Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 


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Mr.Wynyard's  Ward 25 

Sylvan  Holt's  Daughter 12mo  1  50 


6  Harper  &  Brothers'  Popular  Novels. 

PRICK 

HAY'S  (Mary  Cecil)  A  Dark  Inheritance 32mo,  Paper®    15 

A  Shadow  on  the  Threshold 32mo,  Paper  20 

Back  to  the  Old  Home 32mo,  Paper  20 

For  Her  Dear  Sake 4to,  Paper  15 

Hidden  Perils , 25 

Lady  Carmichael's  Will.      See  Lady  Carmichael's   Will,  and 
Other  Christmas  Stories. 

Nora's  Love  Test 25 

Old  Myddelton's  Money 25 

Reaping  the  Whirlwind 32mo,  Paper  20 

The  Arundel  Motto 25 

The  Sorrow  of  a  Secret 32mo,  Paper  15 

The  Squire's  Legacy 25 

Victor  and  Vanquished 25 

JAMES'S  (Hemy,  Jun.)  Daisy  Miller 32mo,  Paper  20 

An  International  Episode 32mo,  Paper  20 

LADY  Carmichael's  Will,  and  Other  Christmas  Stories.  .32 mo,  Paper  15 

LAWRENCE'S  Anteros 40 

Brakespeare 40 

Breaking  a  Butterfly 35 

Guy  Livingstone 12mo  1  50 

4to,  Paper  10 

Hagarene 35 

Maurice  Dering 25 

Sans  Merci 35 

Sword  and  Gown 20 

LEVER'S  A  Day's  Ride 40 

Barrington 40 

Gerald  Fitzgerald 40 

Lord  Kilgobbin.     Illustrated 50 

Cloth  1  00 

Luttrell  of  Arran 60 

Cloth  1  10 

Maurice  Tiernay 50 

One  of  Them. .". 50 

Roland  Cashel.     Illustrated 75 

Sir  Brook  Fosbrooke 50 

Sir  Jasper  Carew 50 

That  Boy  of  Norcott's.     Illustrated 25 

The  Bramleighs  of  Bishop's  Folly 50 

The  Daltons ." 75 

The  Dodd  Family  Abroad 60 

The  Fortunes  of  Glencore 50 

The  Martins  of  Cro'  Martin 60 

Tony  Butler 60 

Cloth  1  10 

Lever's  Novels  Complete  in  5  vols Svo,  Cloth  12  00 


Harper  &  Brothers'  Popular  Novels. 


PRICK 

MCCARTHY'S  Donna  Quixote 4to,  Paper$    15 

My  Enemy's  Daughter.    Illustrated 50 

The  Commander's  Statue.      See  Lady  Carmichaers  Will,  and 
Other  Christmas  Stories. 

The  Waterdale  Neighbors 35 

MACDONALD'S  Alec  Forbes 50 

Annals  of  a  Quiet  Neighborhood 12mo  1  25 

Guild  Court 40 

MULOCK'S  (Miss)  A  Brave  Lady.     Illustrated 60 

Cloth  1  10 

12mo  1  25 

A  French  Country  Family.     Translated.     Illustrated.... 12mo  1  50 

A gatha's  H u sba nd 35 

Illustrated.     12mo  1  25 

A  Hero,&c 12mo  1  25 

ALife  fora  Life 40 

12mo  1  25 

A  Noble  Life 12mo  1  25 

Avillion,  and  Other  Tales 60 

Christian's  Mistake 12mo  1  25 

Hannah.     Illustrated 35 

12mo  1  25 

Head  of  the  Family 50 

Illustrated.     12mo  1  25 

John  Halifax,  Gentleman 50 

Illustrated.     12mo  1  25 
4to,  Paper      15 

Mistress  and  Maid 30 

12mo  1  25 

Motherless.    Translated.     Illustrated 12mo  1  50 

My  Mother  and  I.     Illustrated 40 

12mo  1  25 

Nothing  New 30 

Ogilvies 35 

Illustrated.     12mo  1  25 

Olive 35 

Illustrated.     12mo  1  25 

The  Laurel  Bush.     Illustrated 25 

12mo  1  25 

The  Woman's  Kingdom.     Illustrated 60 

12mo  1  25 

Two  Marriages 12mo  1  25 

Unkind  Word,  and  Other  Stories 12mo  1  25 

Young  Mrs.  Jardine 12mo  1  25 

4to,  Paper      10 

NEWMAN'S  (Mrs.)  Jean 35 

The  Last  of  the  Haddons...,  25 


8  Harper  &  Brothers'  Popular  Novels. 

PRICE 

MY  Heart's  in  the  Highlands 4to,  Paper  $    10 

NICHOLS'S  The  Sanctuary.     Illustrated 12mo  1  50 

NOEL'S  (Lady)  Owen  Gwynne's  Great  Work 30 

From  Generation  to  Generation 4to,  Paper      15 

NORRIS'S  Heaps  of  Money 25 

NORTON'S  (Mrs.)  Stuart  of  Dunleath 35 

NOTLEY'S  (F.  E.  M.)  Love's  Crosses 4to,  Paper      15 

Time  Shall  Try 4to,  Paper      15 

OLIPHANT'S  (Mrs.)  Agnes 50 

A  Son  of  the  Soil 50 

Cloth  1  00 

Athelings 50 

Bro  wnlows 50 

Carit£ 50 

Chronicles  of  Carlingford 60 

Cloth  1  10 

Days  of  My  Life 12mo  1  50 

For  Love  and  Life 50 

Innocent.     Illustrated 50 

John:    a  Love  Story 25 

Katie  Stewart 20 

Lucy  Crofton 12mo  1  50 

Madonna  Mary 50 

Miss  Marjoribanks 50 

Mrs.  Arthur 40 

Ombra 50 

Phoebe,  Junior 35 

Squire  Arden 50 

The  Curate  in  Charge 20 

The  Fugitives 4to,  Paper      10 

The  Greatest  Heiress  in  England 4to,  Paper      15 

The  House  on  the  Moor 12mo  1  50 

The  Laird  of  Norlaw 12mo  1  50 

The  Last  of  the  Mortimers 12mo  1  50 

The  Minister's  Wife 50 

The  Perpetual  Curate 50 

Cloth  1  00 

The  Primrose  Path 50 

The  Quiet  Heart 20 

The  Story  of  Valentine  and  his  Brother 50 

Within  the  Precincts » 4to,  Paper      15 

Young  Musgrave 40 

ORRED'S  (Meta)  A  Long  Time  Ago 25 

Honor's  Worth 4to,  Paper      15 

PATRICK'S  (Mary)  Christine  Brownlee's  Ordeal 4to,  Paper      15 

Marjorie  Brace's  Lovers 25 

Mr.  Leslie  of  Underwood 4to,  Paper      15 


Harper  &  Brothers'  Popular  Novels.  9 

P1UOE 

PAYN'S  (Jas.)  A  Beggar  on  Horseback $    35 

A  Woman's  Vengeance 35 

At  Her  Mercy 30 

Bred  in  the  Bone 40 

By  Proxy 35 

Carlyon's  Year 25 

Cecil's  Tryst 30 

Found  Dead 25 

Gwendoline's  Harvest 25 

Halves 30 

High  Spirits 4to,  Paper  15 

Less  Black  than  We're  Painted 35 

Murphy's  Master 20 

One  of  the  Family 25 

The  Best  of  Husbands 25 

Under  One  Roof 4to,  Paper  15 

Walter's  Word 50 

What  He  Cost  Her 40 

Won— Not  Wooed 35 

READE'S  (Charles)  Novels :  Harper's  Household  Edition.     Illus- 
trated  12mo,  per  vol.  1  00 


A  Simpleton  and  The  Wander- 
ing Heir. 

A  Terrible  Temptation. 
A  Woman-Hater. 
Foul  Play. 
Griffith  Gaunt. 
Hard  Cash. 


It  is  Never  Too  Late  to  Mend. 
Love  me  Little,  Love  me  Long. 
Peg  Woffington,  Christie  Johnstone, 

&c. 

Put  Yourself  in  His  Place. 
The  Cloister  and  the  Hearth. 
White  Lies. 


READE'S  (Charles)  A  Hero  and  a  Martyr 15 

A  Simpleton , 35 

A  Terrible  Temptation.  Illustrated 40 

A  Woman-Hater.  Illustrated , 60 

12mo  1  00 

Foul  Play 35 

Griffith  Gaunt,  Illustrated 40 

Hard  Cash.  Illustrated 50 

It  is  Never  Too  Late  to  Mend 50 

Love  Me  Little,  Love  Me  Long 35 

Peg  Woffington,  &c 50 

Put  Yourself  in  His  Place.  Illustrated 50 

The  Cloister  and  the  Hearth 50 

The  Jilt 32mo,  Paper  20 

The  Wandering  Heir.  Illustrated 25 

White  Lies 40 

READE'S  Novels 3  vols.     8vo  6  50 

SCOTT'S  (Sir  Walter)  Novels.     See  Waverley  Novels. 

SMOLLETT'S  Humphry  Clinker 12mo  1  50 


10  Harper  &  Brothers1  Popular  Novels. 

PUIOK 

RICE  &  BESANT'S  By  Celia's  Arbor.     Illustrated 8vo,  Paper®  50 

Shepherds  All  and  Maidens  Fair 32rno,  Paper  25 

Sweet  Nelly,  My  Heart's  Delight 4to,  Paper  10 

The  Golden  Butterfly 40 

'Twas  in  Trafalgar's' Bay 32mo,  Paper  20 

When  the  Ship  Comes  Home 32mo,  Paper  25 

ROBINSON'S  (F.W.)  A  Bridge  of  Glass 30 

A  Girl's  Romance,  and  Other  Stories 30 

As  Long  as  She  Lived 50 

Carry's  Confession 50 

Christie's  Faith 12mo  1  75 

Coward  Conscience 4  to,  Paper  15 

For  Her  Sake.     Illustrated 60 

Her  Face  was  Her  Fortune 40 

Little  Kate  Kirby.     Illustrated 50 

Mattie :  a  Stray 40 

No  Man's  Friend 50 

Othello  the  Second 32mo,  Paper  20 

Poor  Humanity 50 

Poor  Zeph! 32mo,  Paper  20 

Romance  on  Four  Wheels.     See  Lady  CarmichaeV s  Will,  &c. 

Second-Cousin  Sarah.     Illustrated 50 

Stern  Necessity 40 

The  Barmaid  at  Battleton 32mo,  Paper  15 

The  Romance  of  a  Back  Street 32mo,  Paper  15 

True  to  Herself. 50 

THACKERAY'S  (W.  M.)  Denis  Duval.     Illustrated 25 

Henry  Esmond  and  Lovel  the  Widower.     12  Illustrations 60 

Henry  Esmond 50 

4to,  Paper  15 

Lovel  the  Widower 20 

Pendennis.      179  Illustrations 75 

The  Adventures  of  Philip.     64  Illustrations 60 

The  Great  Hoggarty  Diamond 20 

The  Newcomes.     162  Illustrations 90 

The  Virginians.     150  Illustrations 90 

Vanity  Fair.    32  Illustrations 80 

THACKERAY'S  Works:  Harper's  Household  Edition. 

Novels:  Vanity  Fair. — Pendennis. — The  Newcomes. — The  Vir- 
ginians.— Adventures  of  Philip. — Esmond,  and  Lovel  the 

Widower.  Six  volumes.  Illustrated 12mo,  per  vol.  1  25 

Miscellaneous  Writings:  Barry  Lyndon,  Hoggarty  Diamond, 
&c. — Paris  and  Irish  Sketch  Books,  &c. — Book  of  Snobs, 
Sketches,  &c. — Four  Georges,  English  Humorists,  Rounda- 
bout Papers,  &c.— Catharine,  Christmas  Books,  &c.  Five 

vols.  Illustrated , 12mo,  per  vol.  1  25 


Harper  &  Brothers1  Popular  Novels.  11 

THACKERAY'S  (Miss)  Bluebeard's  Keys $    35 

Da  Capo 32 mo,  Paper      20 

Miscellaneous  Works 90 

Cloth  1  40 

Miss  Angel.     Illustrated 50 

Old  Kensington.     Illustrated 60 

Village  on  the  Cliff.     Illustrated 25 

TABOR'S  (Eliza)  Eglantine 40 

Hope  Meredith 35 

Jeanie's  Quiet  Life 30 

Little  Miss  Primrose 4to,  Paper      15 

Meta's  Faith 35 

St.  Olave's 40 

The  Blue  Ribbon , 40 

The  Last  of  Her  Line 4to,  Paper      15 

TOM  Brown's  School  Days.     By  An  Old  Boy.     Illustrated 40 

TOM  Brown  at  Oxford/  Illustrated '. CO 

The  two  in  one  volume,  Cloth  1  50 

TROLLOPE'S  (Anthony)  An  Eye  for  an  Eye 4to,  Paper      10 

Brown,  Jones,  and  Robinson 35 

Can  You  Forgive  Her?     Illustrated 80 

Cloth  1  30 

Castle  Richmond 12mo  1  50 

Cousin  Henry 4to,  Paper      10 

Doctor  Thome 12mo  1  50 

Popular  Edition      50 

Framley  Parsonage.     Illustrated 12mo  1  75 

4to,  Paper      15 

Harry  Heathcote  of  Gangoil.     Illustrated 20 

He  Knew  He  was  Right.     Illustrated 80 

Cloth  1  30 

Is  He  Popenjoy? 4to,  Paper      15 

John  Caldigate 4to,  Paper      15 

Lady  Anna 30 

Miss  Mackenzie 35 

Orley  Farm.     Illustrated 80 

Cloth  1  30 

Phineas  Finn.     Illustrated 75 

Cloth  1  25 

Phineas  Redux.     Illustrated 75 

Cloth  1  25 

Rachel  Ray 35 

Ralph  the 'Heir.     Illustrated 75 

Cloth  1  25 

Sir  Harry  Hotspur  of  Humblethwaite.     Illustrated 35 

The  American  Senator 50 

The  Belton  Estate. . .  35 


12  Harper  &  Brothers'  Popular  Novels. 

PRICE 

TROLLOPE'S  (Anthony)  The  Bertrams 12mo$l  50 

4to,  Paper       15 

The  Claverings.     Illustrated 50 

Cloth  1  00 

The  Duke's  Children 4to,  Paper      20 

The  Eustace  Diamonds.     Illustrated 80 

Cloth  1  30 

The  Golden  Lion  of  Granpere.     Illustrated 40 

Cloth      90 

The  Lady  of  Launay 32mo,  Paper       20 

The  Last  Chronicle  of  Barset.     Illustrated 90 

Cloth  1  40 

The  Prime  Minister 60 

The  Small  House  at  Allington.     Illustrated 75 

Cloth  1  25 

The  Three  Clerks 12mo  1  50 

The  Vicar  of  Bullhampton.     Illustrated 80 

Cloth  1  30 

The  Warden  and  Barchester  Towers.     In  one  volume 60 

The  Way  we  Live  Now.     Illustrated 90 

Cloth  1  40 

Thompson  Hall.     Illustrated 32mo,  Paper       20 

TWO  Tales  of  Married  Life.     Hard  to  Bear.     By  Georgiana  M. 

Craik.     A  True  Man.     By  M.  C.  Stirling 30 

WAVERLEY  NOVELS: 

THISTLE  EDITION:  48  Vols.,  Green  Cloth,  with  2000  Illus- 
trations, $1  00  per  vol. ;  Half  Morocco,  Gilt  Tops,  $1  50  per 
vol. ;  Half  Morocco,  Extra,  $2  25  per  vol. 

HOLYROOD  EDITION:  48  Vols.,  Brown  Cloth,  with  2000 
Illustrations,  75  cents  per  vol. ;  Half  Morocco,  Gilt  Tops, 
$1  50  per  vol. ;  Half  Morocco,  Extra,  $2  25  per  vol. 

POPULAR  EDITION:  24  Vols.  (two  vols.  in  one),  Green 
Cloth,  with  2000  Illustrations,  $1  25  per  vol. ;  Half  Moroc- 
co, $2  25  per  vol. ;  Half  Morocco,  Extra,  $3  00  per  vol. 

Waverley ;  Guy  Mannering ;  The  Antiquary ;  Rob  Roy ; 
Old  Mortality;  The  Heart  of  Mid- Lothian;  A  Legend'of 
Montrose;  The  Bride  of  Lammermoor ;  The  Black  Dwarf; 
Ivanhoe ;  The  Monastery ;  The  Abbot ;  Kenilworth ;  The 
Pirate  ;  The  Fortunes  of  Nigel ;  Peveril  of  the  Peak ;  Quen- 
tin  Durward;  St.  Ronan's  Well;  Redgauntlet ;  The  Betroth- 
ed ;  The  Talisman  ;  Woodstock ;  Chronicles  of  the  Canon- 
gate,  The  Highland  Widow,  &c. ;  The  Fair  Maid  of  Perth  ; 
Anne  of  Geierstein ;  Count  Robert  of  Paris ;  Castle  Danger- 
ous ;  The  Surgeon's  Daughter ;  Glossary. 


1  HAKPKK  &  BROTHERS  will  send  any  of  the  above  works  &?/  mail,  postage 
prepaid,  to  any  part  of  the  United  States,  on  receipt  of  the  price. 


I  LJ 

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